You Don't Know Me
by SeaMe
Summary: Jade and Tori are forced to work together on a group project for school. And when Tori visits Jade's house one day and her father is drunk, Tori realizes that Jade may not be the person she always thought she was.
1. The Project

**All right people, so here is the re-written version of "You Don't Know Me!" It's going to be about the same length the previous one was but includes lots of improvements and new material such as:**

**-a Bade subplot  
>-more 'action'<br>-longer chapters  
><strong>

**However, the 'overall' story plot (which you read in the summary) is the exact same, but I'm adding things to make it more interesting/exciting/logical/etc.**

**Oh, and I'm also going to try and update ASAP because I know a lot of you have probably already some of the chapters before.**

**So on that note, enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: Does it look like I own Victorious?**

**Rated T for violence.**

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><p>CHAPTER 1<br>Jade's POV

I watched Sikowitz with no interest as he went through the usual routine of class. Beck was sitting next to me, looking bored.

"Wish we could ditch," I said.

"I know," he said, grabbing my hand.

Sikowitz stamped his feet loudly at the front of the classroom. I dropped Beck's hand, turning my head towards our acting teacher. "How many of you want to hear about the next big project I'm assigning?" The class stared at him blankly. Sikowitz continued, unbothered by this reaction. "Well, the project is to write out a full play script on your own, which is due next week.

"I was thinking that you all should be working in pairs for this assignment, because it would be slightly more difficult for you to do it by yourselves, not that it really matters because life is all about the challenges, but anyways…" He picked up a piece of paper from his podium, looked at it, and started to read aloud. "The groups are as follows: Beck and Robbie, André and Cat, Jade and Tori—"

"What?" I heard Vega shout. "Me with who?"

Sikowitz ignored her. I tensed up in my chair. _Great, this is just like that stupid stage fighting project all over again_. I shot a glance over at Tori. She wasn't looking at me and her face was pale. Beck put his arm around my shoulders and whispered, "It won't be that bad" in my ear.

Oh, come on. Like having Tori _exist _wasn't bad enough. I really did not like that girl, but no one else, not even my own boyfriend, seemed to understand. But whatever. It's no big deal. I'll at least get a chance to make her life the most miserable it's ever been since I'll be working with her practically every day for the next week.

Tori was sitting closer to the front of the room, I guess so she could be near Sikowitz. What a little kiss-up. I sighed as loudly as I could, getting no attention from my peers as Sikowitz was finished announcing the groups and everyone was getting with their partners and approaching him for the assignment sheet.

Beck stood up and gave my head a pat before going over to meet with Robbie. I knew from the way his face was arranged that he was obviously not too excited but not disappointed to be working with the nerdy kid and his creepy puppet, Rex.

I stayed in my seat, waiting for Tori to approach me. She finally did, a nervous look on her face. She was standing five feet in front of me and gave me a dumb little wave, because I was looking down at the floor.

"You can go get the paper," I told her without hesitation.

She still said nothing, but eventually she walked over to Sikowitz and got us our assignment sheet. She brought it back to me silently. Before she could give the paper to me, I snatched it out of her hands abruptly, bringing it to my face to read it. She sat down slowly where Beck was originally sitting.

I couldn't help myself. For some reason, I couldn't stand it when people sat down or stayed in the spot where my boyfriend normally should be, and Tori was no exception to that.

Without warning, I lunged my foot out and kicked Tori in the side. She flew off the chair and landed on the ground. I let a smile appear on my lips as I pretended to continue reading the assignment sheet.

"Ow!" Tori said as she hit the ground hard.

"Tori!" Sikowitz called from the front of the classroom. He was busy trying to put a straw in a coconut, but looked up from his work. "What are you doing down there?"

"I, I…uh, dropped something," Tori mumbled, trying to get back on the chair. I smirked behind the paper. Tori sat down in the chair, rubbing the area that I had kicked. She gave me a very angry look. I let the paper fall from my fingers onto the floor, looking straight at her.

"Well that's not a pretty face," I said.

She rolled her eyes. "Are you going to be like this the entire time we work on this project?

"Maybe," I responded, looking down at the paper on the floor.

Tori sighed. She probably wanted to start an argument with me but obviously thought better of it. "What do you want to write the script about?" she asked reasonably.

"The future," I answered, reaching down and picking back up the paper.

"Oh, okay. That doesn't sound half bad," Tori admitted, sounding a little relieved for some reason. Her hands folded awkwardly in her lap. "So what about the future would you like to write about?"

"Death."

"Death?" Tori repeated, like she was unsure of what I had just said.

"Death happens in the future, Tori," I reminded her sweetly.

"Yeah, well…" Tori seemed lost for words. "Uh, I'm not sure if that's an appropriate topic."

"Define 'appropriate,' Vega," I shot back.

Tori was struggling to think of a comeback. I could tell by the look on her face and the way she bit her lip. Finally, after a full minute of me staring her down she said, "You know what, never mind. Death is a great topic to write about."

"If you don't want to do it then speak up, Vega," I taunted.

"It's fine!" she practically shouted, going red.

I smiled again. I had total control over Tori now, and she seemed to be aware of that as well.

"So where do you want to start?" Tori asked, trying to calming down.

I was silent, but just then the bell rang. I picked up my bag, reaching over at taking the assignment sheet off the ground before throwing it at Tori.

"You can keep it," I told her as Beck walked over to me, an annoyed look on his face. He put his arm around my shoulder and starting leading me out of the classroom, when I heard Tori's voice behind me.

"Wait, when do you want to work on the project again? Afterschool?"

"Tomorrow," I said half-heartedly and not really meaning it.

"What time?" Tori kept trying to talk to me, but I was already gone from the classroom and she didn't come following after me. I didn't look back.

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><p>Tori's POV<p>

André, Cat, and Robbie (along with Rex) were sitting with me at our usual lunch table outside in the Asphalt Café. Beck and Jade were nowhere to be seen at the moment. I was eating a pizza without my usual enthusiasm. André noticed.

"Hey, what's wrong, Tori?" he asked.

"I'm not really hungry today," I said, pushing the plate of food away from me and picking up my soda instead to take a sip.

"You were fine earlier," Cat said. I put my soda down and stared at her. Cat looked back at me, but after a few seconds of this awkwardness, her eyes shifted down to the table, a sad look appearing on her face. I immediately felt guilty for our silent little exchange.

"It must be that you're partnered up with Jade, huh?" André asked when I looked over at him.

"Uh, yeah," I answered, feeling like I was stating the obvious.

André nodded knowingly. "Well, I got partnered up here with Lil' Red—" he put his arm around Cat. Her eyes moved back up from the table to his face, a smile spreading across her lips. "And we got this project down."

Cat nodded, while Robbie was starting to look slightly left out at the corner of the table, one of his hands controlling Rex and the other one picking at his food.

"Yes, well that's great news for you two," I said, giving them a falsely cheery smile.

"You were partnered up with Jade before, Tori. Remember? During the stage fighting project," Robbie said, scooting over, trying to make his existence remembered and to join in on the conversation.

How could I not remember?

"Well, that didn't end too great," I reminded them, remembering that Jade's actions had gotten me two weeks of detention and having to clean out the black box theater after a food fight, although that last part wasn't too actually bad because she came over and helped me get out of it.

Robbie shrugged, not knowing how to keep the conversation going. And he wondered why he didn't have too many friends.

"Why does she hate you so much, Tori?" Cat asked. I noticed that she had been looking a lot happier ever since André had put his arm around her, but I chose to ignore this little detail. Maybe she was just being bipolar.

"I've been asking myself that same question ever since I got here, Cat," I sighed.

"Just like I've been askin' myself how Robbie got this far in life," Rex said, laughing.

"Rex!" Robbie yelled at his puppet. Cat's smile didn't waver as she watched Robbie tell his puppet to back off.

"Maybe Sikowitz wants you guys to learn how to work together for once," André suggested. "I mean, it's no secret that Jade seems to hate you all the time." He paused, deep in thought. "Well, I mean Jade seems to hate you more than most people."

"Yeah, that's true," I said hesitantly, thinking back to every moment I've had with Jade. Most of them ended in her being angry at me for no reason, or me being angry at her, or me being absolutely clueless to what she had just said or done to me. "But honestly, I don't think I've ever done anything to make her hate me for life."

"You kissed Beck on your first day here," Cat pointed out, her face dead serious.

"I was acting," I defended, although the memory of seeing Jade's shocked face when I kissed her boyfriend was enough to make me grin even right now.

"Well, I think everyone knows how jealous Jade can get, and that's no exception with her boyfriend," André said.

I sighed again. "Why does this have to happen to me? Why couldn't Sikowitz have partnered her up with someone else? She is like, the only person I _can't _get along with." I put my head in my hands and felt like my world was crumbling just over this one project.

André patted my hair with his free hand. "Don't worry, Tori. I—"

Cat interrupted him with a burst of laughter so sudden that André took his arm off her shoulders. "Haha, Tori and worry rhyme!" She kept laughing, while Robbie was staring at her quizzically.

André stared at Cat for a brief moment. "Well, like I was trying to say earlier, Tori, you don't have to worry about it too much. I've known Jade for a long time, and no matter how mean she seems, I don't think she would really try and, you know, _seriously _hurt you."

I lifted my head and looked at André. "Thanks, André. That makes me feel a whole lot better," I said sarcastically.

"Seriously!" André said, looking upset at my use of sarcasm.

"Yeah well being physically hurt is a lot different from mentally and emotionally," I argued. "And you know, just a few minutes ago, she was _really _pushing my buttons."

"Well…" André seemed lost for words.

"You know Tori, sometimes you just need to spend time with people to get to know them better. One time I worked on a project with Jade, and I think we got to know each other better," Robbie put in.

"Nah, she still thinks you're a weirdo," Rex said slyly. "If not, she thinks you're an even _bigger _weirdo."

"No she doesn't!" Robbie argued with his puppet.

"Yeah, I really doubt that," I said, picking up my plate and soda. Rex laughed loudly, thinking that I was agreeing with him about Jade thinking that Robbie was weird, which I actually did, but I was referring more to what Robbie had first said.

"One little project isn't going to change the way someone thinks about me, and it's not going to change the way I think about someone else." I walked over to the trashcan and dumped my leftovers into it.

"Sometimes you have to give people a chance," André called as I walked away from the table, his arm around Cat again, while Robbie and Rex were in a heated debate with each other. None of them made any moves to come over to me.

_Yeah_, I thought, sighing and walking into the building to get to my locker, _I've given Jade a lot of chances. And she's blown quite a few of them._

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><p><strong>So if you've read this story before you'll notice that this is the previous Chapter 1 and 2 piled into one. You're welcome. ;)<strong>

**Well, I would just like to say that I am so, _so _glad that I am re-writing this because I just read over the first version (so I could do some editing and see what I could save) and I'll say, "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?" ****I can't believe I published something as horrible as that (I'm so embarrassed), and I'm also very glad that I stopped releasing the chapters publicly so that some of you didn't need to see the just-as-badly-written ending.**

**And now that I've had a little more practice and lots of excellent feedback from the first one, I hope this newer version will be better, but of course, it's up to you to decide.**

**So please review. :)**


	2. Jade's Father

**I also forgot to say that if you know what happens in the end, please don't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet or this is their first time reading this story.**

**Seriously. **

**Because if you do, I will come find you and hurt you in ways you cannot imagine. :P Just kidding. And who knows, I might've changed the ending...**

**But seriously. Don't do it. **

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><p>CHAPTER 2<br>Jade's POV

Beck waited outside of his truck as I walked up to my porch. I reached into my bag and pulled out my keys before clicking the door open. I turned around, and saw that his eyebrows were furrowed deeply, his arms across his chest, like he was upset about something.

"What's wrong?" I called, not stepping into my house yet.

"Can you call me later?" he said back, his expression unchanging. I could tell that he was hiding something. "Like, right before you go to bed or something?"

"I don't know," I responded. "I go to bed pretty late. I don't want to wake you up."

"No, it'll be fine." He waved a hand at me airily, at the same time walking to the other side of the truck and opening the heavy door. "Just call me okay? I, uh…well, just do it anyway." He gave me no other reasons and hopped into the truck.

I sighed and entered my house. I locked the door behind me and peeked through the window, seeing Beck sitting on the curb, the engine of his truck purring loudly. He looked at my house suspiciously for a couple of seconds and then drove off.

I turned around and observed my living room. It was very dark, and I suspected that no one was home. _What a surprise_, I thought. My parents had divorced when I was 3. I was left with my dad and never saw my mom again after that day in the courtroom. My dad worked really which usually started late in the afternoon and ended at around midnight. It didn't bother me, because then it meant that he would be home when I was at school, and I always tried to avoid him at all costs.

My dad was certainly not the nicest of men, but I always told myself that he could be worse, which was really hard to do some of the time. Yes, he had parties literally every day and trashed the house. Yes, he got angry a lot and liked to take it out on me. And I bet if he found out that I had a boyfriend he would murder us both, but he was my dad after all. He still let me go to Hollywood Arts, and I had a lot more freedom than other kids did—but then again, it was probably better that way.

I walked into the kitchen, turning on the light. I was met by quite a surprise of a mess. The countertop had beer bottles scattered over the normally clean granite surface. Some of the bottles were partially full, and dripping puddles of beer where they hung over the edge onto the floor. The sink was piled with dirty dishes and cups, even though it had been completely empty before I had left for school this morning. _Dad must've had a party_, I thought grimly, walking through the kitchen to the family room.

The first thing that hit me was the overpowering smell of alcohol. I immediately brought my hands to my face to try and block out the disgusting scent as I scouted around the room.

The couch was on its side, facing the wall, revealing its shredded underneath. _Wow, I wonder how old that is_, I thought to myself. There were new holes in the carpet so big you could see the hardwood floor underneath them. More bottles littered the ground—wine and vodka ones—as well as the usual beer.

Looking around some more, I saw what looked like women's clothes (that were clearly not mine) bunched up in a corner of the room. _That's nasty, Dad_, I thought with a shiver, not able to imagine the things my dad might've done to another girl. Thankfully, he has never tried to rape me...yet...and I hope it stays like that.

I was trying to see what more damage my dad had caused to our family room, but the scent of alcohol was so strong I felt like I was getting drunk just by smelling it. I backed out of there and headed up to my bedroom.

I clambered up the stairs loudly, my footsteps echoing through the empty house. To my great relief, I found my bedroom door was still locked. I unlocked it quickly and went inside, finding that everything seemed to be in order. It was definitely a new habit of mine to keep my room locked, because my dad always seemed to have the craziest, randomest parties in the world, and nothing could be worse then coming home and finding my room trashed (which did happen on several occasions, but was less frequent after I had bought that deadbolt for the door).

I tossed my bag onto my bed and headed to the bathroom to get washed up. Someone had written a bunch of random letters on the mirror in what looked like permanent marker. I sighed, running my hand through my hair. It seemed to me like the parties my dad threw were just getting wilder and wilder. A few days ago I had found broken glass inside some of my shoes, and when the dishwasher stopped working I found a pulpy mess of what looked like a cardboard pizza box at the bottom on top of the blades.

I got cleaned up as fast I could, feeling lonely in a way. Not many people that I knew visited my house. Beck had come over on a few occasions, but I had made sure my dad was on business trip before he came. He didn't know what went on with me and my dad, and I hoped to keep it that way. It was sort of my way of protecting him.

I sat down on my bed, folding my legs underneath me. I reached over and pulled my bag towards me so I could start doing my homework.

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><p>It was hours later when I heard the front door bang open loudly. I sat up, startled from my nap, which I had started to take right when I was done with my homework. I listened closely and heard heavy footsteps in the living room.<p>

"Jadelyn West!" my father boomed. "Get down here right now!"

Gulping, I left my bedroom and walked down the stairs slowly, for the first time seeing the true mess that lay in the living room. My dad was standing there, looking oddly professional with a suit, tie, and shiny black dress shoes on. It was still a little bit dark, but he closed the door behind him, showering the room into black again before flipping on the light switch.

"What is this mess, Jade?" he asked me, gesturing to the trash all over the room with one hand, while the other hung at his side, clutching a large brown briefcase.

"I didn't do anything." I stood at the bottom of the stairs, not wanting to get any closer to him. I looked down at my feet, noticing all of the paper plates, napkins, cups, and a bunch of other things littering the floor.

"Don't lie to me, Jade," he said, his ice-blue eyes that I had inherited glittered dangerously.

"I'm not lying. I didn't do anything," I repeated, "you did!" I almost wanted to mention the women's clothes I had found in one corner, but I held my tongue.

"Stop saying such nonsense. Just clean up everything and I'll let it go," he sneered, striding towards me. I stiffened and he stopped, his face inches from mine. He poked me in the stomach, and I could smell his breath, which wasn't pleasant but I didn't smell any alcohol.

I growled and my throat burned with anger and the thousand comebacks that tried to claw their way out.

_I didn't do any of this! Why should I have to clean this__ up_? But I knew better than to argue with my father. The last time I did, I had to spend the week at a very confused Beck's house because he had gotten so crazy drunk that he almost killed me. Luckily I had covered that up by saying that he was gone away on a business trip and I didn't want to stay home by myself.

I walked to the kitchen, stomping my feet loudly on the way. I hated the way he treated me. It was like I was just his personal servant to clean up all of the messes he made. That's why when people would ask me to do little things for them I would get all defensive and upset.

No one really knew me. Not even Beck, although he was closer to me than anyone else was. When you have a secret, especially like mine, you keep it hidden as long as you can, and at all costs.

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><p>I finished cleaning within an hour and half. I had recycled all the bottles, scrubbed off the carpet (although I could do nothing to fix the holes), mopped up the puddles of alcohol, and even managed to put the couch back its original position, although it took me a full twenty minutes to sit it upright and push it against the wall (my dad was somewhere else in the house, of course, not helping me).<p>

I retreated back to my bedroom after I put the cleaning stuff away. My PearPhone was sitting on top of the dresser. I plopped down on my bed, realizing too late that my door was wide open. I was too lazy to get up, so I just lay down and stared up at the ceiling.

Suddenly, I heard a loud smash from downstairs. _Dang you, Dad. I just cleaned everything up_. I didn't move, but I could hear my dad shouting at the top of his lungs.

"She's ruined everything! She's ruined everything! She drove my wife away and she's destroyed my career! She's ruined everything!" he yelled wildly.

I flinched when I heard him say this. _He's probably drunk again_, I thought, trying to reassure myself into thinking that he wasn't talking about me. But of course, that was most likely not true. I knew my dad hated me as much as I hated him, and I knew from things he said in the past that I seemed to be the reason for all of the misery that occurred in his life. Of course, I couldn't control half of the things I did, especially since being born seemed to be one of his biggest hates.

There was a loud stomping noise, and my mind jolted as I realized he was coming up the stairs. I struggled to get off my bed and run to close the door, but I was too late. My dad was standing in the doorway, both of his hands behind his back.

"Jaaddee," he mumbled, taking a step into my room.

"No Dad, go away," I said, not moving from my spot in front of him. He barely had any control over me when he was sober, what more when he was drunk? "You're really drunk. Get out of my room." I went to push him backwards, but he caught both of my hands with one of his own.

"Jaaddee," he repeated, his grip on my hands tightening. I tried to pull away, but he ended up throwing me onto the floor. My phone was on my dresser; I couldn't reach it from where I was on the ground.

"Get out of my room, Dad," I said again, this time much more firmly. The trick was to show him you weren't afraid, and usually he would leave just long enough for you to climb out the window or lock your door better.

But not this time.

My dad rolled his eyes, stepping closer and closer towards me. I wanted to get up, but I was frozen. I was cornered in my room—the only way out being the window, but that was a good distance away. His hand had retreated to behind his back again, and I had a bad feeling that he was hiding something from me.

"No, Jade, we need to taallkk," my dad slurred, and from behind his back he revealed the large beer bottle with broken top, its jagged edges shining in the light of my bedroom.

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><p><strong>Do you think you know what happens to Jade (especially if you've read it before?) Well think again! Mwhahaha! }:)<strong>

**Anyway, I'm glad everyone seems to be okay with this new version. Trust me, these first two chapters are what were in the original, but the next one is when it really starts to change. But I hope you noticed the small differences this chapter had from the first one, like Jade's relationship with her dad.**

**Review. :D**

**Oh and this is not a femslash (sorry if that's what you wanted this to be), but I don't write those kind of stories...for many different reasons.**


	3. Don't Let it Slip

**Well, I'm sorry these past few chapters were kind of like what was in the first version. But if you'll notice in this chapter the beginning is much more different.**

**I think the characters might be a little OOC in here, but I think you'll understand later why.**

**Oh, and yes I did watch the new episode. What about you guys? I loved the part where Tori went running around the halls singing "Make It Shine." SO FUNNY considering I don't really like Tori.**

**Anyway, here's the new chapter.**

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><p>CHAPTER 3<br>Jade's POV

Before I could react, my dad smashed the bottle onto my head. I felt the glass edges stab into my forehead. I wanted to cry, but Jade West doesn't cry. And anyway, that would make me look weak, which is the last thing I wanted in a moment like this.

"Dad, stop," I choked, trying to crawl backwards and away from the monster.

My dad's eyes rolled in his head grotesquely. He crouched down in front of me, grabbing the collar of my shirt and keeping me from getting away. I lashed out with my hands and legs, but he kneeled down on me so that I couldn't kick him anymore.

"Dad!" I said in a squeaky voice as he grabbed me around the throat.

I started to choke, trying to pry his one hand off. I felt myself starting to turn purple, but he wasn't loosening his grip. I struggled wildly, but it only made things he lifted his other hand with the bottle and hit me in the head again. I let out a strangled scream losing what little air I had left.

He hit me two more times, and I wanted to pass out so badly. Luckily, he only hit me three times, versus the usual five or six. _I guess he was in a good mood to day_, I thought bitterly.

I started seeing stars and black engulfed my vision. Something wet and sticky was dripping into my eyes, but I couldn't wipe it away since I was still trying to get his hands off of my neck.

Eventually he let go of me and stood up, slumping forward. The bloody, broken bottle in his hand dropped to the floor, breaking into sharp pieces.

"Good night, Jade. Same time tomorrow, okay?" he mocked, disappearing into the hallway, leaving me gasping for breath and covered in blood.

I couldn't stop the tears falling off of my face. I got up with the help of my bed and staggered into the bathroom. My forehead was all cut up and there was blood already drying on my face. I did actually like blood, except when it was my own and it came from being beaten by my dad.

You could see a handprint around half of my throat where he had tried to choke me to death.

It took me a while but I finally managed to get cleaned up. My forehead was bright red still, and if you looked closely you could see the cuts. I decided to change my hairstyle and put bangs down over it to make it less noticeable. I did look heck of a lot different, but it was better to see that then my actual forehead.

I also used makeup on my throat to cover up the handprint. When I figured I looked decent enough, I went back into my bedroom, avoiding the glass shards on the floor that I would pic up later, and sat down on my bed, sighing heavily.

I reached up to my dresser and picked up my phone.

It read in solid white numbers at the top that it was 12:45 a.m.

I remembered I had to call Beck, or he would know something was up. I quickly dialed his number and brought my PearPhone up to my ear, wiping my eyes.

"Hey baby," Beck answered within three rings. His voice sounded strangely relieved. "I thought you weren't going to call."

"Well I am now," I replied, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. "Were you asleep?"

"No."

"Oh, well good then," I responded quietly.

"Is something wrong, Jade? Is your Dad home?" Beck started to sound worried. He knew that I hadn't told my dad about our relationship, mostly because he would probably kill me for having a boyfriend, and I was sort of put at a risk whenever I called or texted Beck within the confines of my home. "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have asked you to call me. I'm sorry, Jade. I don't want to cause any trouble for you. I'll go now."

"No!" I said suddenly. I didn't want him to go…just yet. "I think my dad is downstairs, uh, eating a midnight snack."

Beck laughed softly on the other end. "Well you sound really tired. So I'll let you go to bed. I just wanted to hear your voice again."

I smiled.

"Bye baby," he whispered.

"I love you," I said back.

"I love you too. See you tomorrow." He hung up.

I put my phone down gently on my bed. Still smiling and although in pain, I eventually fell asleep peacefully.

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><p>Tori's POV<p>

I arrived at our usual lunch table with André. Robbie and Cat were already there, and they smiled up at us as we sat down.

"So how are you guys doing today?" I asked them. "How are you're Sikowitz projects going?"

"Oh you know, pretty good," André responded, taking a bite out of his burrito. Cat didn't say anything; she was busy flipping through a Sky Store catalog, and Robbie said, "It's doing all right."

"And how are you doing with Jade?" André asked.

"Well, she wasn't here yesterday so I didn't really get a chance to talk to her, and she's not picking up her phone," I said, actually slightly relieved that I hadn't seen Jade yet this week, well except for Monday. But it was now Wednesday and I was starting to get a little bit worried too because the project was due next week and the only thing we had so far was an idea to write about.

I was still stewing in my thoughts when suddenly, Beck and Jade walked up to our table, seeming to come out of nowhere. Beck was holding a plastic container with a burger in his hands and Jade had a coffee in hers.

I tried to avoid Jade's eyes, and I noticed that she seemed to have gotten a new haircut. She had bangs that went across her forehead, like she was trying to hide something. There were also a few cuts scattered across her nose, and she looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Oh, hi Beck. Hi Jade," André greeted, scooting over to make room for the two.

"No, I don't want to sit here," Jade complained to Beck in an oddly scratchy voice. Beck ignored her pleas and pulled her to sit down at the table with us. She looked at me. "We always sit with these losers. Can't we sit somewhere else?"

"Nope. And they're not all losers." I smiled at Beck for defending us from Jade, and he winked back while opening his container and taking out the burger.

"Yeah I guess you're right. The only loser here is Vega, I guess."

I frowned but said nothing, mostly because I couldn't think of anything really good comebacks.

"Hey, Jade, what happened to your nose?" Cat asked, when everyone but Jade had continued to eat their food.

"She tripped and fell onto a plant," Beck informed us, taking another bite of his burger.

"Then why did you get a new haircut?" Cat persisted. She reached over the table to try and push Jade's bangs back out of the way. Jade jerked back as soon as Cat touched her, and she stood up immediately.

"I wanted to change it up for once."

Cat's expression of curiosity changed suddenly to that of sadness and knowing. "Was it your dad?" she whispered, but not quietly enough judging from what happened next.

"Shut up, Cat," Jade seethed, hatred dripping in her voice, which was unusual considering her and Cat were best friends. Beck stopped eating, a French fry hanging out of his mouth. André looked shocked while Robbie was fiddling with his PearPhone, completely oblivious to what was happening.

"But it was, wasn't it?" Cat asked.

"Jade, what is she talking about?" Beck seemed utterly confused.

Jade stood up. There was a pop as the coffee cup broke open, dripping the still-hot liquid onto the table and seats. Beck scooted over so fast to avoid contact with the stuff that he knocked Robbie off the bench completely. André reached over and pulled Rex out of the way as the coffee spread across the surface, despite the table's design that had interconnecting diamonds with holes in the centers.

She still didn't say anything. Jade looked around, giving everyone a stare of pure anger, even Beck.

I was absolutely lost in the moment to what was happening.

No one moved, although the coffee was getting into our lunches and some of it onto our backpacks. If looks could kill, all of us would've dropped dead right there. Without another noise, she walked away, leaving us to clean up her spill.

"Cat, what the heck did you say?" Beck said, his eyes blazing furiously at the redhead.

"Chill, Beck," André said, lending Robbie a hand to stand him back up and giving him Rex.

"No. Cat, what did you say to her?" Beck questioned, moving to go over to Cat. I wondered what was up with him. Usually, he was a very calm guy, but it seemed like someone had lit a fuse or something. He was very agitated and his face was red, unusual behavior for him.

Cat shrunk against me when Beck approached her. Her eyes widened and she said softly, "I'm sorry, Beck. I don't think I should've said anything."

"Is she keeping a secret from me?" Beck shouted.

"Beck, you need to calm down man," André said, stepping in between him and Cat. Cat clutched my arm like she was afraid the Beck was going to hit her...or André.

"Fine." Beck seemed to deflate a little bit and he moved away from them, grabbing his backpack. "I'm going to find her and see what the heck is going on." He walked away quickly.

Cat's eyes were still very wide, and it looked like she was about to cry.

André left to go get some napkins to clean up the mess.

It was dead silent, with Robbie still standing there awkwardly, Rex sitting on his arm. Cat started rubbing her eyes and I pulled her off of the bench, taking our backpacks, which were now partially soaked with coffee.

André came back, his hands full of napkins and a roll of paper towels. He handed me a few napkins, and I started to dab the coffee off of the backpacks. Him and Robbie wiped off the table, leaving Cat to hold the puppet.

We worked in silence, but I was fine with it. When we were finished, we sat back down, giving each other weird looks.

André decided to break the silence. "Cat, is there something you want to tell us about Jade and her, uh, dad?"

"No," Cat shook her head. "I can't tell you anything. It's a secret."

"All right then. I'm sure Jade'll get over it and so will Beck," André said, seeming to take control of the situation. We proceeded to salvage and consume our food that was not stained by the coffee. "Geez, I wonder what's up with everyone today."

I started to think about the one thing Cat said about Jade moments ago, and how her and Beck had reacted.

_Jade didn't look too happy about Cat mentioning her dad_, I thought. _And it's not like her dad is the friendliest person in the world_. I remembered the time I had helped her with her play and I met her dad. He really did seem like a mean person.

_Something must be going on with him. Something that only Cat knows about, and Beck is worried about, probably because he doesn't know, and they are together after all__. Couple shouldn't keep secrets from each other_.

I shook my head. _You're jumping to conclusions, Tori. You don't really know Jade__. For all you know, she could be planning a birthday party for someone_.

And I wished on my life that that had been the case.

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><p><strong>Well that was an interesting chapter to write. I hope you thought the same when you read it. But I seriously hope everyone is enjoying this story so far. You guys have been really encouraging and stuff, and I can't thank you enough for that.<strong>

** Review. :)**


	4. My Problem, Not Yours

**A little bit of drama and hopefully not too much OOCness but it's up to you to determine that.**

**Yep, and this chapter was supposed to come tomorrow, but because I will be attending my school's Sadie Hawkins dance (I asked my crush out and he said yes :D so I absolutely have to go) I won't be able to update, so here it is early. You're welcome. **

**And I know you guys probably don't need everything that goes on in my personal life, but hey, a good author connects with their audience, right? :) **

**So enjoy this chapter while I enjoy my dance. ;)**

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><p>CHAPTER 4<br>Tori's POV

I woke up the next morning, feeling very refreshed. It was a bright and early Thursday morning and I was in a great mood.

I went to the bathroom and got ready for school. As I came back to my bedroom, I spotted my blue PearPhone lying on top of my nightstand. I picked it up and turned it on.

Wait, was it really Thursday? The white letters on my phone confirmed it.

Oh great. I still needed to find Jade so we could start on the project. My heart sank considerably.

Why did Sikowitz only give us a week to do the project?

Why did my partner have to be Jade?

Why, why, why did these things always have to happen to me?

I trudged downstairs, trying of when we could work on the project. I quickly realized that I was open for the rest of the week and weekend. And I hoped Jade would be too.

So today, I would have to invite her over to my house.

_God help me_.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>I arrived at school with Trina was rearranging my locker when I first saw Jade walking down the hall, her hairstyle back in its usual form, Beck nowhere in sight.<p>

"Hey, Jade!" I called, slamming my locker.

Jade stopped walking. I noticed the cuts covering her forehead. They looked pretty new, so I guess that's what she had been trying to hid yesterday. "What do you want, Vega? I actually have somewhere to go, if you don't—"

"Do you want to come over to my house later to work on Sikowitz's project?" I interrupted. She had the look of someone who had just been asked to a dance in front of an entire class.

Turning a bright shade of red, she said, "I dunno. I think I might be doing something later."

"Well, we have to start the project soon. It's due on Monday!"

"Don't get your underpants in a twist, Vega. Sheesh." Jade started walking away, and I stood there, dumbfounded on what to say or do next. "I'll think about it."

I sighed, but saw no point in going after her. _Why does she hate me_?

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>It was the end of the school day and I was putting books into my locker when Jade approached me.<p>

"Don't get all hyped up, Vega, but I can come to your place today," she said dully, like she had been sentenced to death.

"Okay, that's great," I replied, a little hesitantly. I turned to face her, although avoiding her gaze. "Did you uh, drive here? Or did someone else…"

"No Beck drove me."

"Okay, then Trina can drive us," I answered, "If that's all right with you."

"Oh boy, I hope we survive," she said dryly.

I didn't know whether to defend Trina or agree with Jade. Yes, Trina was definitely not the best driver in the world—she would put on makeup and eat or talk while she was driving, and her eyes never seemed to stay on the road; they were always wandering around.

"Your choice," I told her. "But if you don't want Trina to drive us there, then you can take a bus or find another ride."

"I'll live through it. After all, I live through seeing you everyday."

"All right, you know, you don't have to come over if you don't want to," I said, struggling to keep control of my temper. This was the exact sort of reason why Jade bugged me so much. She knew how to push my buttons until it drove me crazy.

Before Jade could say anything else, Trina came around the corner of the hall. "Hi Tori and Tori's friend. Are you ready to go, Tori?"

"Yeah, and Jade's coming with us too," I answered. I noticed that Jade's eye twitched when Trina called her 'Tori's friend,' but she said nothing more and followed us silently to Trina's car.

Trying to be a good guest, I went into the back seat with Jade while Trina took the wheel.

It was silent the entire way, unless you counted the songs coming out of the radio. Jade was looking out the window her hands folded in her lap, so I looked out my own, watching the colors of the buildings and cars flash by in a blur.

When Trina finally pulled into the driveway of our house, I almost fell out of the car in my haste to get out. Jade quietly went with us inside. As soon as the front door closed behind us, Trina went straight up to her room. Mom and Dad weren't home yet. Darn.

Jade and I sat down on the bright red couches in the living room.

"So, where would you like to start?" I asked.

"I don't think we completely decided on a topic," Jade pointed out, sitting down on the couch next to me and putting her feet on the table in front of her.

"Oh, yes. Right." I sat down on the couch next to her, keeping a wary but not too noticeable distance from her. "What were some of the ideas we had in mind?"

"I say we write about death," Jade insisted, attitude coming back in her voice as she crossed her arms. I felt pale trying to argue back with her. _This is going to be a long night_.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>It was past dinnertime now, and we had actually made some good progress on our project. Of course, we still had a few more acts and many scenes to complete, but considering how unstable our friendship was, we were doing pretty well.<p>

In the end we had decided to write about a famous woman who was also a time traveler. The woman travels to the future and sees the world after she has died, which is in a completely chaotic state, because she was unknowingly one of the few people that kept the world in a peaceful mind. She then travels back to the present to try and fix things so that the future has some hope.

That way we could keep Jade's storyline of 'death' in the plot but also make it more interesting (well, Jade though death was interesting enough) or _appropriate_ as she preferred to use.

"No, I don't like how you wrote this part," Jade told me, pointing to a line on my laptop screen. "You should put, '_Gia trips running down the hall_.' It makes more sense."

"Geez, Jade, I would've never guessed you were such a grammar freak," I said playfully.

Jade shot me a cold look and I shut up, even though I had meant it as a joke.

Working with her wasn't actually as bad as I had originally thought. We were getting along for the most part, at least, unless you counted the thirty-three—no, thirty-four insults—Jade had made on my writing skills.

"Do you write? I mean, like stories and stuff. 'Cause you're really good with this," I commented, typing on the laptop in front of me what Jade had told me to.

"What are you implying Vega?"

"Nothing." I couldn't even compliment the girl without getting yelled at.

"Well, I have a journal that I write in," Jade said, scribbling something on the pad of paper I had given her. "Why don't we make Georgio say, '_What's your problem?_'"

I typed that down on the document. Honestly, I would've never suspected that Jade, of all people, kept a journal. It just didn't seem like something she would do. Actually, she had told me a lot of things that I would never have guessed she does.

Like the fact that she enjoys playing video games (mostly Call of Duty or Modern Warfare though), going shopping (but only for black clothing), and cooking (just for Beck and Cat though). After hanging with her for a couple hours, I realized that she could be nice if she really wanted to. Or maybe that's because my dad was home in his upstairs office and he was a cop.

"I'm bored now," Jade finally said, standing up from her spot on the floor.

"Well, we've made some really good progress," I said, standing up with her. "I think if we keep this up for another few hours we practically have this project down. So how much longer do you want to keep working tonight?"

"It's only nine," Jade told me, looking at the clock on the wall. "I can stay for a few more hours. It's not like my dad even cares if I'm home or not. Actually, he would probably prefer it if I weren't home and so would I." She sighed, suddenly looking very unhappy.

"About your dad, Jade," I said, much to my surprise, "did he…I mean…your face?" My question came out in a jumbled mess.

"You don't know me, Vega," she said. I knew the words were supposed to be cold and mean, but for some reason, they sounded sadder than anything. "Well, no one really does. Not even Beck." She looked down at her hands.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I said as kindly as I could.

She shook her head. Of course I wanted to hear what she would've said, but I knew better that to say anything more.

"No one has a perfect life, Vega," she said, straightening up. She looked me right in the eye. I almost gulped looking back into those ice-blue depths. "But I hope you realize how nice you have it compared to me."

I didn't know how to respond. Jade was going all philosophical on me. This was very unexpected.

"So what can we do now?" she asked, brushing hair out of her face, and I could feel more bitterness entering the atmosphere.

"You wanna watch a movie?"

Suddenly, there was a faint buzzing noise: Jade reached into her pocket and pulled out her red PearPhone. I watched her as she read the message on the screen.

"Speak of the devil," she murmured. "And he will interfere."

I almost said, "I think it's _appear_," but I shut my mouth. Jade was looking very upset. Her eyebrows were drawn together as she typed something into the phone. She brought it up to her ear and waited.

There was a faint buzzing noise as Jade waited for her dad to pick up. I sat there on the couch next to her, awkwardly staring at the laptop in front of me. I tried to act like I wasn't eavesdropping.

"Hello?" a man's voice said from the other side.

"What do you want, Dad?" Jade said.

"Where are you?"

"Why do you care?"

I coughed. Jade didn't even look at me, but continued to talk into the phone furiously.

"Why don't you come home now, Jade? It's getting late," her father said, in a different, more seductive tone of voice then when he first answered the phone. Jade suddenly looked terrified. I put the laptop down on the coffee table in front of us.

"No." Jade's bottom lip was shaking.

"Why not? We can have a little bonding time," her father said. "I've got just the idea of how we can do that. Come on, Jade. Come home."

"No." Jade took the phone away from her ear and hung up. "I can't go home, I can't go home. He's drunk again," she said, practically to herself like she had forgotten I was here.

"Then don't go home," I told her. "You can stay here if you want."

"No," Jade said, sounding terrified now. "I'll just go stay with Beck." She tapped something on her phone and sent a text to her boyfriend.

"And then where are you going to go after that?" I asked her as she stood up. "You'll have to go home eventually, Jade."

"Why do you care so much, _Tori_?" she practically yelled.

"Because technically, we're friends, and I don't like seeing my friends as terrified as you are now," I shot back, holding my ground.

"_You don't know me, Tori_!" she screamed every word. I heard footsteps on the stairs and realized my dad was probably wondering what was going on. I ignored that fact, and Jade continued. "I don't give a care about what happens to you. So why should you give me one?"

"Girls, what's going on in here?" my dad interrupted, who was standing by the piano.

Jade's face drained of color, as did mine.

"Uh…you know…homework," I improvised. "We're acting out a scene to see how it would look like."

Jade nodded quickly.

"Okay, well, I'll be upstairs then." He clomped out of the room, and at the same time Jade rushed to the front door and disappeared outside.

"Jade!" I went after her, grabbing her arm before she could walk down to the sidewalk.

"I think I made my point inside. I don't need to make it again," Jade growled.

"Jade," I said, "I can help you. My dad is a cop. If you're having problems you can tell him and he'll do the best he can to help you. I hope you know that."

"No, Tori. This is none of your business."

There was a truck that pulled up to the curb. It was Beck.

"I don't need your help. Or anyone else's for that matter, okay?" She started walking down towards Beck's truck.

I watched silently, thousands of questions forming in my head.

"We can work again soon." She paused, arriving at the door. She opened it up and shouted back to me, "Remember, Vega. This is none of your business." She hopped in.

I waved to Beck, and saw his shadowy hand wave back. I went inside the house, sitting down on the couch. I glanced up at the staircase. My dad was there, and I could tell him what I suspected was going on with Jade and her father.

"_You don't know me, Tori."_

"_This is none of your business."_

The words echoed in my head.

It was true. I didn't know Jade, and it was none of my business really. As much as I wanted to let someone know about Jade, I knew I that I couldn't. I wasn't really clear on what was going on, and of course I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

But when I found out the truth, you can be sure as heck that it will become some of my business and other people who can help her will be finding out.

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><p><strong>Okay, so in case you're 'losing interest' in this story (which I hope isn't the case, but you know) well, the next few chapters are all about BADE! Yay! :D<strong>

**So I hope you're interested now. :) Review.**

**Oh and also, I'm wondering if anyone noticed what Jade kept saying in this chapter...it has something to do with the title of this story. ;)**


	5. My Secret, Not Yours

**Sorry for the short chapter, but I didn't really know how to expand it from this...**

**This is the beginning of a 2-chapter Bade subplot. So if you're a diehard Jori fan (like me :D) well, just bear with me for the next two chappies. But I'm sure you'll like it nonetheless. **

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><p>CHAPTER 5<br>Jade's POV

Beck pulled away from Tori's house and I didn't take a second look back. I was starting to feel worried that she thought she knew everything and then she would tell her cop of a dad and get involved in my business.

Stupid Tori. Always assuming the worse, but right now the worse was probably the best.

"So how did things go?" Beck asked me in a tight voice.

Back on Wednesday, after he had come running after me, he had demanded to know everything, especially after Cat let it slip that my dad might've had something to do with it. I told him as little as I could, saying that my dad liked to throw parties and I accidently slipped and fell onto one of the beer bottles on the floor. And that of course, sparked a whole new conversation of keeping secrets from each other.

"It was…it was all right," I mumbled, looking out the window at the dark blurs we passed by.

"Am I supposed to drop you off at your house?"

I thought back to the phone call I had just had with my dad. As much as I didn't want to go there, I knew I had to unless I wanted Beck to be even more suspicious and paranoid than he already was. "Uhm, yes." _Risky moves, Jade. You know your dad is home and drunk_.

Beck frowned and he gripped the steering wheel harder. "I don't think I want you going to your house tonight," he said slowly.

"Why not?" I questioned, turning to look him in the eye. But of course, he was watching the road so he couldn't look back at me. And it's not that I really wanted to go to my house, but I had to act like that so he wouldn't suspect anything. "You're not my dad, Beck. I can do whatever I want." I was very happy indeed that he was taking these things into thought, though.

"Well, seeing as your actual dad fails to take proper care of you, being your boyfriend, I feel like I need to take some control here."

"You're being so paranoid," I sighed, even though I was glad he cared about me. More than my dad did, anyway. "Just because I let you in on one little secret doesn't mean anything."

"Oh yes it does. It means everything Jade," he responded. "And I'm wondering if you're keeping any more secrets from me."

I kept looking out the window awkwardly.

There was a silence.

"Jade," he said in a soft voice, "you can tell me anything. I promise I won't tell anyone else. You know that."

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," I said, feeling hideously guilty, "it's that, for one, I _don't _have anything to tell you." _Okay, that was a complete lie_. "And two, sometimes keeping secrets is the best way to protect someone." _All right, that was perfectly true_.

I agreed with everyone that Beck had just said, especially about keeping secrets from people. I would hate it if my boyfriend kept a secret from me, and of course I would want to know, especially if his life was being greatly affected by it.

But the only reason why I had never told anyone what my dad did to me was to keep them safe. Because I knew that once I had told them, they would want to try and help me, and that would put them in danger, and I couldn't bear to do that.

Most people thought of me as someone who was always very blunt and mean and honest with my opinions. Well, that was because I was always used to responding to my dad in that way, I did it to other people without thinking ninety-five percent of the time. So, my dad was to blame for my behavior.

And he was also the reason why I had to keep secrets from people that I cared about the most.

Yes, I had told Cat everything, but that was because she was a lot different from most people. Of course, she had wanted to help me, because she hated seeing me so sad and hurt all the time, but I told her I didn't want it. She respected me for that choice, and that's why we are such close friends. She understood things that no one else would. And for the most part, she kept her promise well.

But telling Beck, or anyone else for that matter, would be entirely different. Especially since he was my boyfriend, he'd probably want to go and pound my dad into a pulp. Not that I didn't want that, because of course I wanted to see my dad feel my pain for once, but then it would put Beck in danger, and that's the last thing I wanted to happen.

Life is complicated.

And sucky.

Geez, what is wrong with this world?

"Jade." Beck's voice brought me back to the present and out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I asked, looking over at him.

He slowed the truck down, and looked right back at me. Although it was dark, I could still see that his eyes were blazing with determination.

"Jade, if you're keeping secrets from me to try and protect me, I appreciate that. I really do. But right now is not the time for secrets. I know there's something you're not telling me, and it's hurting me not knowing what it is," Beck said.

God that boy was so intuitive. He was kind of like a dog, except dogs don't try and barge in to your life and ask you to tell them all your secrets.

"Trust me, Beck. You're heck of a lot better off not knowing."

"So you do have a secret," he said, his eyes twinkling.

"Yes," I said slowly. I never planned on letting him know this much…ever. "But it's my secret, not yours. And I'll let you know what it is when the time is right, okay?"

Beck sped the truck up. We were almost at my house now.

"Fine, you win," he said, "but if I notice that something's not right, I'm going to start questioning you again. Or I'll just stop talking to you until you tell me what's up." He laughed lightly, taking a huge left turn onto my street. He stopped in front of my house.

I leaned over and gave him a kiss.

"Call me later again?" he asked as we broke apart.

"Sure," I said in a growly voice, but of course I meant it. I went to the front door, unlocked it and stepped inside.

"I love you!" he called to me from an open window.

"I love you too!" I said back. I turned around, shutting the door firmly, leaving myself in the pitch-black darkness of our living room. I sighed and leaned back, feeling suddenly happier and in a better mood.

I could see the outlines of our furniture, and the dimness from the kitchen sending rays of lights bouncing off the walls, reflecting off the windows and mirrors.

_So...where exactly is my dad_? I wondered.

I stiffened suddenly when I saw something move sharply by the couch.

"You want to tell me who you're saying 'I love you' to?" a voice said from the shadows.

_Oh crap_.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>Beck's POV<p>

I watched as Jade shut the door behind her. I rolled up the open window, sitting in my truck. I wasn't just ready to drive back home yet.

The things Jade had said were very interesting, yet disturbing.

She had a secret that she wasn't telling me, and I was worried that it would be something serious. But of course, I was very glad that she had finally confessed to me that her dad had parties a lot, because I had known something was up for a while, but I just didn't know what.

Sometimes she would come over to my RV, or house, and start acting extremely paranoid about something. Like she would have some sort of dried blood on her shirt, which kept coming from her 'bloody nose,' but I realized now that she had probably been tripping over the trash left from her father's parties. Or once she came over and completely passed out and I found three bruises on her head. She later claimed that she ran into a fence, but I didn't really believe her.

But know I knew the truth behind those lies.

If you think I'm being a bad boyfriend by letting her go back to her house when her dad could be home and hosting another party, then you're wrong. I knew she was keeping more secrets from me, and I wanted to find them out.

I glanced over at Jade's house again.

The front blinds started shaking wildly, and I paused, staring hard and tensing up. My hand was on the handle to open the door and I watched with hawk's eyes.

They came apart, and a hand waved at me. I waved back slowly, feeling slightly relieved before turning the engine on.

I was still not completely satisfied yet.

I waited another full five minutes, sitting there silently. Nothing else happened. I turned the engine on and drove away from the curb slowly.

It was dark, the only light being the dim streetlights. I went driving down the street, when suddenly I heard my phone vibrate. Even though there was no one around, I still pulled over to answer it.

My phone was hiding in the glove compartment and I examined the message on it.

_Bep em _–Jade

_What the heck_? I thought. I don't think we had any secret code or anything, and 'Bep em' didn't ring any bell in my mind. I sat there, wondering.

_Bep em, bep em, bep em_, I repeated in my head, trying to make sense of the words.

I glanced down at the touchscreen keyboard on my phone. She obviously typed whatever she was trying to say wrong. I looked at the keys around the B, E, P and M. I couldn't figure anything out.

My phone vibrated again.

This time it was a call from Jade. I brought the phone up to my ear.

"Hey, baby. What do you…" I trailed off, realizing that the only thing I heard was panting. I listened closer.

I heard some muffled sounds like someone was trying to say something, but they kept getting cut off. My free hand gripped the steering wheel. Then I heard a crash, and a faint scream.

Someone, not Jade, said very loudly, "You're a filthy little liar. You _never _lie to me. Not unless you want to pay for it."

And in that moment I suddenly realized what the text had been trying to say.

_Help me_.

I dropped my phone; it landed by my feet, and I jerked the truck forward, making an extremely tight U-turn on the one-way street. I stepped on the gas and sped towards Jade's house.

I parked in her driveway and jumped out, sprinting to the door. I banged on it with both of my fists as hard as I could.

"Open up the door!" I yelled. "Open up!"

There was a hushed silence on the other side, but I kept pounding away. My girlfriend was in there, and I didn't know what was happening to her. Judging from the brief noises I had heard on my phone, I guess that someone, possibly her father, was in there with her.

I backed up, running towards the door as fast as I could and kicking it open with my foot.

The door slammed against the wall heavily before rebounding and almost hitting me in the face. I grabbed the doorknob to stop it, suddenly realizing that it was unlocked this whole time. I looked around the dark living room, my eyes adjusting to the poor lighting.

My heart sank when I found Jade pinned to the wall by the man who was her father.

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><p><strong>Cliffhanger! Well, I'll be updating sometime soon...so until then...review!<strong>


	6. Unfair

**I'd just like to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who's read, alerted, favorited and reviewed this story. I'm so happy that you're all liking it so far, especially since a lot of you are telling me it's better than the first one :D (that was the point of re-writing it). You guys make my day just by seeing all those emails pile up my inbox.**

**So thank you. And please enjoy this next chapter. :)**

**Oh, and yes, this is a Jori story, but this chapter and the last one were mostly Bade. But it gets back to Jori again, so don't worry. ;)**

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><p>CHAPTER 6<br>Jade's POV

I saw Beck burst through the door from the corner of my eye. I was incredibly relieved that he was here, but he could get hurt because my dad had just found out that we were together. Oh geez, I didn't think of that. But he was here to rescue me, so I guess I would have to make the best of it.

"Beck!" I shouted as my dad's hands tightened around my throat.

My dad swung out with one fist, and I saw Beck fall to the floor. My dad's hand resumed its position around my neck and he started shaking me roughly.

"No, stop!" I said, choking and trying to fight back against my father. "Beck!"

"So that's your boyfriend, huh?" my dad snarled. His alcoholic breath covered my face, smothering me completely. "Well, I'm about to teach him not to mess with my daughter."

He let go of me, and I fell to the ground, trying to breathe. My dad staggered towards Beck, who was still lying there, clutching his face. My dad drew his foot back and kicked my boyfriend in the gut. Beck groaned and rolled over.

"Dad, stop!" I yelled again, trying to stand up. "Stop!"

My dad ignored me and reached down, grabbing Beck's arm, hauling him into a standing position. Then, with surprising strength for someone who was drunk, he threw him over our couch and onto our glass coffee table. There was the sound of shattering glass, and I knew I had to do something.

I leaped onto my dad, wrapping my arms around his throat, pulling his body backwards. We crashed onto the bookshelf by the door. I was lucky and avoided hitting my head on the wooden oak, but my dad wasn't. There was a sick sound as his head met the shelf and he collapsed on top of me, unconscious.

I quickly rolled him off of me and got up to find Beck. He was sitting in a mess of blood and glass shards, and his face was twisted in pain.

"Beck?" I whispered, walking towards him, glass crunching under my boots.

"You never told me," he said faintly, holding out his hand so I could pull him up. I put my arm around him and we sat down on the couch carefully.

"I'm sorry, Beck. I really am. It was to protect you," I said, feeling tears in my eyes. "And now you have to get out of here before my dad wakes up. He'll kill you if you don't. He knows." I stood back up and tugged on his arm gently.

"No Jade," Beck rasped, leaning back slowly. "You need to tell me everything. Now. I'm not leaving until you do."

"Can we talk about this later?" I pleaded, pulling harder on his arm.

"Oww…no Jade. You need to explain everything right now."

I felt tears prickling in my eyes but I brushed them away quickly. I sat down, and Beck put an arm around me gingerly. Every part of me screamed to not tell him what had been going on in my life for the past twelve years. But I had to.

"My dad, he's also an alcoholic," I whispered slowly.

"Yes, I could smell it on his breath," Beck muttered disgustedly.

"And he gets angry with his job…and his life in general. And he likes to take it out on me." I couldn't go on. If Beck was smart enough (which he was; I would never date anyone stupid) he would be able to piece together the rest. I buried my face in my hands.

"I'm sorry," he said, rubbing my shoulder. "You should've told me when we first started dating, you know. Then maybe this wouldn't have gone on as long as it has." He paused. "Why didn't you tell anyone before? And don't give me this 'I was trying to protect you' crap."

I was about to reply when there was a loud sound behind us.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>Beck's POV<p>

I looked over at Mr. West. He grabbed what was left of the tiny bookshelf to haul himself up, and looked straight at us. Instinctively, I turned my body to protect Jade.

"Yoouu, booyyy," her dad said, pointing a beefy finger at me. "Get away from my girl. Now."

I glanced at Jade, who was looking up at me frantically, her blue eyes full of worry. I put my hands up, showing surrender, and backed away from my girlfriend slowly, going over to stand by the door. I couldn't risk anything now. That would be stupid, and I didn't want him to hurt Jade.

Her dad advanced on me.

He poked me in the chest, his smelly breath all over my face. I did not lower my arms. "You been goin' out with my girl for a while now, huh, pretty boy?" he said, practically slobbering on me.

I didn't know how to respond. Did Jade tell him that we were going out?

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. They were the exact same color that Jade's were. I had to nod eventually, because it felt like he was going to squeeze my jaw out of its socket. I saw Jade hang her head, and immediately regretted it.

_Come on Beck. You can put up with a little pain. Don't be such a baby. This is for Jade, remember_?

"Well, then, sir, I need to talk to you." He let go of my face, and I sighed. But then he grabbed my neck and slammed me against the wall. I didn't try and defend myself. While holding me still, he said, "My dear, give me your phone right now."

Jade hesitated at first, but then thought better of it. She slowly walked to a corner of the room, picking up her bright red PearPhone before giving it to her dad. Mr. West took it in one hand and crushed it to pieces before our eyes with surprising strength, dropping the sizzling parts to the floor.

"You will never be contacting this boy again, you hear me?"

Jade nodded, and it looked like she was going to cry. I hated her father so much right now. I lunged out with a fist, aiming for his face. It landed with a loud smacking noise. He jerked his head back, and used his free hand to pin my arm to my side, thus rendering any punches useless.

"Be a good girl and go upstairs." Jade started towards the stairs, stopping midway to give me a fleeting glance. "Go Jade. I don't want to have to hurt your boyfriend—wait, no, he's your ex-boyfriend now, so now I can do whatever I want to him." Jade rushed up the remaining stairs, her bedroom door slamming audibly.

Mr. West grabbed my collar and pulled me outside into the open darkness. He forced me up against the closed front door, shaking me a little. My head banged backwards, and I felt another lump forming. _Oh boy, I'm going to be sore tomorrow_.

"All right, boy, you listen up. You say one word of this—and I mean _one word_ of this—to anyone, I'll hunt you down myself and make you wish you weren't ever born. Understood?"

"Yessir," I answered, wanting nothing more than to get away from this man and talk to Jade—but wait, he had broken her phone and if I tried to get inside the house I certainly would be better off dead.

Dang him.

"One more thing. You see the way my daughter listens to me?" Mr. West snarled, his face centimeters from mine. "That's because I've taught her to do what I say without question. I ask her something anything; she gives me an answer right away. Does she do that for you?"

"Yes," I growled, "except she does it without being afraid of being beaten practically to death."

Something hit me hard in the face. I thought my nose was broken, and my eyes were watering horribly. I felt blood dripping into my mouth and spat it out quickly.

"Someone's gotta teach the kids nowadays how to respect their elders."

"There's a difference between respect and fear," I snapped.

He hit me again. My head banged against the door, and I saw stars—well, besides the ones in the sky. Jade's dad threw me down to the ground and stood over me, glowering angrily. I wiped the blood off my face.

"Get outta here, stupid," Mr. West yelled. "And one word to anyone, you're a dead man. And my daughter will pay the price, too, as a matter of fact."

_No, not Jade_! I thought desperately.

"Promise me boy?" Mr. West hauled me back up by my collar.

"Yessir," I gulped, landing back hard on the ground. I crawled to my truck, blood dripping down onto my shirt. I hauled myself into the driver's seat, looking back to the front of Jade's house. Her father was standing there, obviously waiting for me to drive off.

I turned the engine and drove off. As soon as I was far enough, I pulled over and picked up my phone in my bloody hands. I had a text message from my mom, but I ignored it.

Instead, I dialed someone's number and brought it up to my ear. Screw keeping secrets, especially if my girlfriend (yes, she was still my girlfriend, no matter what her father thought) was getting hurt.

I thought I had figured out her secret, but there was something even darker hidden behind it.

"Hey, Beck," the voice on the other end said calmly.

"I need to tell you something really important, André, and you have to help me…"

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>Jade's POV<p>

I watched with a broken heart as Beck drove away. He looked pretty beat up walking to his truck. I swallowed the pain building in my body and looked away from the window, wiping my eyes even though nothing had come out.

I heard heavy footsteps on the stairs, but thought nothing of them.

My door banged open and my father walked in, his strides long but slow.

"Well, Jade, I'm very glad we got that settled," he said, sitting down on my bed. I stiffened by the window. "Come, come and sit with me." He patted the area beside him. I didn't want to, but I knew I had to, unless I wanted to get hurt anymore.

"I understand that you've been going out with that boy for a while now," my dad said, in a tone that seemed more gentle than anything. Weird.

"And you will not anymore. If I ever see you with him, I'll kill you both," he said threateningly, and I knew he wasn't kidding. "I've warned him and he knows the consequences. I want you home afterschool at three. For every minute that you're late I will spend beating the crap out of you when I get home."

I didn't respond, and my dad grabbed my hands suddenly, holding them together painfully.

"Life doesn't need to be worse for you, Jadey," he said, leaning towards me while I tried to lean away. "But if it does…well, then you only have yourself to blame." He got up and staggered out of my room.

I leaped off my bed, staring out the window.

Beck was gone, and he wasn't allowed to come back.

He knew my secret, though. My big one.

My dad was still an overpowering maniac who hated my guts and wanted to ruin my life as best as he could.

I had a stupid project to work on with Tori.

Life isn't fair.

It never was.

It never will be.

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><p><strong>This little 'plot' with Beck and Jade was never intended to be in the original version of the story, but I figured that I should have a subplot for this newer one. And here's a fun fact for y'all: The original version of this entire thing was just supposed to be Beck and Jade driving to Jade's house, but then Jade gets overly upset at Beck for being nosey, and she jumps out of the truck (while it's still driving). Beck stops the truck and goes to comfort her, blah blah blah, they get over it, blah blah blah. But that was pointless and just messed up my plot, so I got rid of it.<strong>

**But then when I was re-reading it to see what I could use for this new version one day, I realized, "Wait...how does Beck react/find out about Jade getting abused?" So I remembered my previous idea and put it into here with some additions, and I think it works pretty well once you see the ending. Plus, it adds a lot of excitement and wonderful Bade to this story. ;)**

**Well that was a long author's note. So yeah. Next chapter we get back to the Jori. Yay!**

**Tell me what you think. :)**


	7. Be Careful What You Ask For

**Kind of a filler chapter I know, but some important things happen in here. :)**

**BTW, how many of you saw The Worst Couple? Oh my goodness that was so intense. I'm not exactly a huge Bade fan but seeing Jade all genuinely sad for the first time was just...unbelievable. :'( I'm also really glad I'm done with that Bade subplot because I doubt I could write it now.**

**So anyway, here's your chapter, in 1...2...4...5... :D (oh my gosh I loved that part in the episode).**

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><p>CHAPTER 7<br>Tori's POV

Thank God it's finally Friday! But that means that Jade and I would have to get cracking down on Sikowitz's project if we wanted to pass. Trina, of course, drove me to school, and on the whole trip there I was planning on how I would approach Jade this time. As soon as she parked I was out of the car, yelling back to her, "Bye, Trina, I'll see you later!"

"Okay, Tori, and remember, I'm having my party tomorrow so you and your friend can't work on Sikowitz's project at our house."

_Wait, what_?

"What party?" I asked, retreating a few steps.

"I'm celebrating the anniversary of when I first discovered I was going to be accepted into Hollywood Arts," Trina said proudly, seeming to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.

_What the heck was she talking about? It was the middle of the freaking school year, for goodness' sake! And as much as I love my older sister, I think her getting that acceptance letter was a mistake at the post office, no offense to her_.

"Trina," I said, "Does Mom and Dad know you're hosting your 'party?'"

"Of course, silly!" she replied, ruffling my hair and starting towards the entrance of HA. "Bye, Tori!"

I stood there, my jaw hanging open. _Now what am I going to do? Maybe Jade will let me over to her house…maybe…but then there was that conflict and my suspicion of her dad...so maybe that wasn't such a great idea..._

I trudged up the steps to the school, heading to my locker. There was hardly anyone here yet, but after I had exchanged a few books and tidied up my locker a bit, I found that André was sitting on the steps of the main stairwell, a keyboard on his lap. He looked incredibly somber.

"Hey, André, what's up?" I said, walking over and sitting down next to him. I remembered that Lane had always told us not to sit there, because it was a fire hazard. But it was the morning, and hardly anyone was here, so I dismissed that thought immediately. "Have you seen Jade? I know it's early and everything, but I need to—"

"I'm not sure if Jade's coming to school today," André said in an unusually dark manner. "Did you hear what happened to Beck?"

"No, what?" I did admit that I had a little bit of the crush on that boy, but I think my attraction to André was stronger.

"Well, apparently, yesterday night his grandpa passed away."

"Oh."

"So he told me that he's going to spend some time by himself at home," André said, a little sadly. "And then his grandpa's funeral is tomorrow, in Bakersfield. So Beck'll be out of town, and he's taking his RV too, for some reason. I think he mentioned something about wanting to bring more relatives."

"Well, I'll be sure to send him my condolences," I said sympathetically.

"And, um, because of that, he wanted me to make sure that you don't work on your project at Jade's hous—" André was cut off as the mean queen herself walked by. "Hey, Jade! You're here today!" André greeted, changing the subject abruptly and acting a slight bit too friendly.

"Hello, André," Jade replied coolly, although her facial expression didn't match that. Her face was clean of any injuries—unless she covered them up with makeup—but her eyes were sunken into her head like she hadn't slept and been crying all night. I wondered if this had something to do with Beck.

"Jade, what's wrong? I heard about what happened to Beck's grandpa and that he's—" I tried to say.

"Are you okay, Jade?" André interrupted, to my surprise.

"What does it look like, Harris?" Jade snapped. Her voice cracked in the middle, and she continued angrily, "I don't really want to talk to you right now, Vega." She walked down to the vending machines and took a left turn before disappearing behind the corner.

"So, um, what were you saying, André?" I said, trying to remember our previous conversation. "Something about Beck not wanting me to go to Jade's house…?"

"Oh yeah." André looked _incredibly _uncomfortable. What the heck was wrong with everybody this week? First Jade, and then Cat's confession about her father, and then Beck getting overly upset about nothing, and now André. "Well, he said that since he's not really here to, I guess, 'keep Jade under control,' you probably shouldn't go to her house."

_It probably has something to do with her dad_, I thought.

"Then how are we going to work on the project?" I questioned. "Trina's having a party at my house that's going to last who knows how long, and we _need _to finish our play! I'm not failing Sikowitz's class all because I couldn't get along with my partner. Or schedule a time to work together."

"No, Tori, it's not just that," André stumbled over his words.

_Uh-huh…_

"I know Jade can be really mean and rude sometimes, but I seriously doubt that she would ever try and seriously hurt me," I said back, remembering he had said those exact words earlier in the week. My mind was churning with plans. "Here, I'll go find her and maybe we can figure something out."

André watched me as I started down to the black box theater. I had my first period with Jade, and I figured she might be going down in that direction.

I opened the double doors, peeking my head inside. There was one person in there: Jade. I suddenly felt really awkward and I didn't know how to start our conversation._ Should I just leave and come back when the bell rings, or should I just go in there now_? I pondered to myself.

"You're blocking the exit, Tori," Jade's voice echoed in the theater suddenly.

"Sorry." _Oh well, no backing out now_. I stepped inside and walked up to Jade hesitantly. She was sitting on a foldable chair, and her feet were up on the one next to her. She was holding something in his hands, which I couldn't identify; it certainly wasn't a PearPhone but some sort of electronic device.

I sat down on the free chair next to her. Now that I was much closer to her and she didn't have her bangs, I could see shallow cuts on her forehead and a bruise hiding under a pile of makeup on her left cheek.

"So, we need to work on the project," I said slowly.

Jade looked up at me, her eyes blazing angrily. I tried not to gulp too loudly.

"Yeah, even I don't want to fail Sikowitz's, Vega," she replied.

"And, uh, the project is due next Monday, which is in about three days," I reminded her.

"I can count, Vega."

"We have to work on it this weekend," I said. Jade's mouth moved to give me a retort, but I continued. "And we can't work at my house because Trina's using it to host her anniversary of being accepted into Hollywood Arts." I rolled my eyes at my older sister's weirdness, even though I loved her dearly.

"So what are you suggesting?" Jade's arms folded across her chest.

"Well, if it's all right with you, maybe we could work at your house…"

I thought my head was going to explode with the look that Jade gave me. Her eyes were pits of icy depths, and I was falling endlessly in them. "I don't want you coming to my house," she replied swiftly.

"Why not? I promise I won't tell anyone where you live, if you're worried about your address getting out," I said, chuckling slightly.

Jade obviously saw no humor in my joke. "It's not just that, Vega."

"Then what is it?" I insisted obnoxiously. I decided to bring up the subject that was on my mind. "By the way, how did things go with your dad? I didn't tell anyone anything because—"

"Because it's none of your business," she interrupted.

"Come on, Jade. Why don't you just tell me what's going on here, huh? I can help you. I know people that can help you. Seriously. Whatever's going on with your dad is pretty obvious to everyone. If you're getting abused, you really need to tell—"

She rudely cut me off again. "Shut up, Vega. Just shut up. You don't know me. You're jumping to conclusions, that's what you're doing. This is my problem, my business, my life. Not yours." She stood up angrily, picking up her things. "And for your information I am doing perfectly fine with my dad. It's the nosey, stubborn, annoying, bratty friends you have to watch out for."

_Oh dear, what did I say_? "Wait, Jade," I called after her as she made her way to the exit of the black box. I didn't mean to make her this upset.

"No, Tori, you can wait."

The door slammed loudly behind her, leaving me in the silence of the theater.

_Wait for what? I'm not going to stand around all day when a friend could be a potential victim of child abuse_. _Jade might not want me to interfere, but I didn't care. _

_Something wasn't right here._

_I had known from the start._

_And the only way to find out was to visit the old man himself_.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>It was afterschool, and I was by my locker. Trina had texted me a few minutes ago, saying that she was getting ready to leave. She had to hand out a few more invitations to her party, apparently. That was perfectly fine with me, because I had to find Jade <em>again <em>before we went home.

I had gotten Jade's number from Cat, and I quickly dialed it and brought it up to my ear.

"Hello, the number you've reached is no longer in service. We are sorry for the inconvenience it may be causing you," a robotic man's voice answered.

I hung up. Maybe Cat had given me the wrong number or something.

Just then, the redhead herself came around the corner.

"Hey, Cat," I said, walking up to her.

"Oh, hi Tori," she said, smiling.

"Uh, the number you gave me, you said it was Jade's but when I called it said that the number was 'inaccessible.'"

"Oh, sorry. She said she broke her phone yesterday by dropping it in the toilet." Cat giggled into her hands. I stared at her, cracking a grin. For some reason, I couldn't imagine Jade dropping her precious PearPhone into a toilet. "But she's going to borrow my phone for the weekend so she can stay in touch with Beck. So you can call my phone if you want to talk to her."

_Aww, she's such a sweet friend_. "Okay, I'll do that, then. Thanks!"

"Kay kay!" she said excitedly. "I'm going to get sushi with Robbie. Bye, Tori!" She bounded away happily. _Geez, she never gets upset about anything, huh? If I had lent anyone my phone I probably would just mope around my house for the entire weekend_.

This time I decided to call Cat—well, Jade anyway. The phone rang three times before I heard Jade's voice.

"What the heck do you want, Vega?" she asked in an angry tone.

"I'm sorry for whatever I said earlier to make you upset," I apologized, "but I need you to know that we _really _need to get started on the project. And we can't go to my house thanks to my sister."

"So you're inviting yourself over to _my _house?" Jade said in an incredulous tone.

"Well, indirectly, I guess. So yeah."

Jade was silent, and for a moment I thought she was going to hang up on me. "Fine," she said finally. "But I'm not responsible for anything that happens to you while you're there. And I'll pick you up, too. I don't need to give you my address."

"Okay, so tomorrow?" I said, slightly relieved, but the gears in my mind were turning wildly.

"Yes tomorrow."

"Good."

"Byee." She hung up before I could say anything else.

I put my phone back in my bag, just as Trina came around the corner, smiling widely at me.

"Come on, Tori, we have to get home and start getting ready for the party!"

I rolled my eyes but said nothing otherwise. I followed my older sister out of the school into the car. As soon as we had pulled out of the parking lot, she started yapping and yapping of the things she still needed to buy and how she would need my help to put up all of the decorations and such. But I stayed quiet for the most part, mumbling the occasional, "Okay. All right. Sure."

My mind was whirring with questions and assumed answers.

Jade's dad had the possibility of being home when I was over at her house. I would definitely need to tell someone, particularly an adult, where I would be going, but of course I would do that even if her father wasn't the person I suspected him to be.

But I kept thinking to that phone call I had witnessed between Jade and her father. Jade was definitely one tough chic, no lie, but the way she was reacting was unbelievable. It was like the day Beck had gone nuts at lunch because he learned that she was keeping a secret from him. Some people might call it 'out-of-character' or 'unusual behavior.'

It really bothered me.

Jade may not be a good friend of mine, but she was a friend of my friends. She was worried that night that her dad called, and I knew something was wrong.

And I needed to find out the truth.

I didn't realize that we had arrived home until Trina's voice woke me up from my thoughts.

"Come on, Tori. You gotta help me set up the banners," she said, banging the door to the car open and hurrying up our walkway to the front.

I sighed, but hopped out of the car after her.

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><p><strong>Okay, I'm sorry if the things Tori keeps thinking are the exact same things she's been thinking in the past chapters, but trust me, I'm doing this for a very good reason...or at least I hope it's a good reason.<strong>

**Did any of you catch the 'OOC' joke I mentioned? :D I felt like I needed to put that in, because I feel like some of the characters' actions are definitely OOC...but I don't know how else to write them without taking away important parts to the story. XD**

**Review.**


	8. Stuck

**There is a brief flashback in this chapter. The italicized part. **

**Well, I take it back, it's not really a flashback, it's just some past information, I guess.**

**Sorry if I don't update in a while but right now my life is getting extremely busy...clarinet lessons (yes, I play clarinet :P), sports practices, not to mention all of schoolwork which seems to be mostly consisting of essays and lab reports on squid dissections. Bleh.**

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><p>CHAPTER 8<br>Tori's POV

"Tori! Tori! I need another bag of ice up here!" Trina's voice rang out above the sounds of a full-blown party.

I brushed my hair out of my eyes, trying to follow where her voice was coming from. Our house was packed—and I mean _packed_—with people. I had no idea that Trina had this many friends.

Mom and Dad, coincidentally, had a dinner to go to with Dad's boss, or the head chief of Hollywood's police force. They were certainly not too happy about the idea of Trina throwing a party, seeing as her parties never usually ended too well, but the dinner was on a short notice and they had no other options.

They put me in charge, demanding that I text them every hour and send them pictures of what was going on at the house. Unfortunately for me, I was turning more and more into Trina's slave than Mom and Dad's secret spy.

It was Saturday and the party started at twelve o'clock sharp. People from Hollywood Arts that I barely even knew went there started pouring in, as well as people from our old school, Sherwood. Trina sent me around the house, refilling the punch bowl, fixing the falling banners hanging precariously from the ceiling, and just making sure that everything was okay in general.

Some older sister I've got, right?

It was now about six, and I was really tired. Trina kept giving me more and more tasks to do. Every hour I sent a text with a picture attached to Mom, showing her that the party was doing all right.

I was so busy I completely forgot about Sikowitz's project with Jade until she texted me. Of course, I thought it was Cat, because I had also forgot that Jade was borrowing her phone, but judging from the content of the text, it couldn't be the sweet little redhead.

_Hey Vega. I'll come to your house in ten minutes to pick you up. You didn't move, right? Not that I'd mind that or anything. ;) _–Jade

I sighed reading the text before giving a quick reply.

_No, I did not move so get your hopes down. I'll be ready. SYS. _–Tori

"Tori!" I heard my sister yell again. "We need more ice up here!"

"Coming!" I hollered, sending a text to my parents, saying that I would no longer be able to send them updates on Trina's party due to the fact that I would be going to Jade's house for the rest of the evening to work on Sikowitz's project.

_All right. Have fun and stay safe. _–Dad

_Oh yep. I hope so_, I thought, trudging up the stairs to find Trina and deliver her ice.

Trina didn't take too well to me telling her I would be gone for the rest of the night.

"Come on, Tor. Who's going to help me now?" she whined.

"You've got friends. Use 'em," I replied smartly, retreating down to the front door. My purse, which had my phone and some other things inside, was hanging off my shoulder and under my arm I carried my laptop, because it had all the files we would need to write the rest of the script.

I waited patiently, and within minutes there was a ring of the doorbell. I don't think anyone else heard it, because the music was blasting so loudly. I went and opened the door, and found Jade standing there.

"Hi Jade," I said calmly.

"Let's go. I haven't been home all day and I really don't want to wait any longer." She left the door without another word.

"Bye Trina!" I called as loudly as I could back into the house. "I'm going to Jade's now!" I didn't hear her response, but shut the door behind me as I followed Jade down to her car.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>Jade's POV<p>

It was Saturday night and I was certainly in no mood to do homework, let alone with Tori. As soon as this morning came around I drove out of the house and left my car at a park. I didn't want to talk to anybody. Beck was out of town, and he wouldn't be coming back until later today, not that he could come and see me, thanks to my stupid father. I couldn't talk to Cat, since I had possession of her phone. I didn't even know if my dad had gone to work today or not.

Tori followed me down to my car. I jumped into the driver's seat, but she hesitantly stood there in the darkness of the night, unsure if to sit shotgun or in the back.

"Just get into the car," I said impatiently, revving the engine.

Tori reached for the door handle and hopped into the front seat with me. It was awkwardly silent as I started down the road, keeping a straight look ahead, my hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"I brought my laptop," Tori said, patting the large bag on her lap.

"Okay." I could tell she was trying to start a conversation, but I was in no mood for conversing. I was surprised she couldn't figure that out. And people kept trying to convince me that she wasn't stupid.

Tori told me more random things, like the fact that she had come up with some great ideas since we last worked on the project, and was wondering if we could work it into the play.

I didn't pay attention to a single thing she was saying.

We came to my house pretty fast, and I was surprised that I lived quite close to Tori. _Great_. But I guess it was a good thing because then Tori finally shut up.

I parked the car in the driveway and got out.

"Is your dad home, Jade?" Tori asked, getting out of the car and coming after me like a puppy.

"I don't know. I think I told you earlier that I haven't been home all day."

"Then where did you go?" Gosh, she was so annoying.

"You don't know me, Vega," I mumbled, unlocking the front door. I was practically knocked backwards by the horrible smell that hit me.

_Crap, what the heck is that_?

I pushed the door open a little more, and the smell got stronger. I heard Tori halt right next to me and she blew air out of her nose, probably not able to believe what she was smelling.

"I told you this was a bad idea, Vega."

"What?" She seemed in a trance.

I entered my house, practically gagging. Tori came in behind me slowly. I flipped on the light switch when the door was shut behind us.

Well that was a big mistake.

All kinds of trash littered the floor; loose papers, cups, smashed glasses and bottles, streamers, confetti, and even a few unlit cigarettes. The pictures on the wall hung crookedly and the glass coffee table was covered in some sort of sticky liquid.

The huge black umbrella we kept folded by the corner of the door had fallen over into the little bookshelf (that I had finally put back up after Beck's visit) and books were scattered across the floor in a disorganized fashion. The knick-knacks my dad kept over the fireplace were in awkward positions, and some were on the ground in broken pieces.

"Uh," I said awkwardly. This was probably the worst state I've ever seen my house in.

And now Tori was here to see it all.

Oh, boy, things were going to get uggllyy…

"Just walk around everything. My dad has a lot of parties and never cleans up his shi—stuff," I said quickly before she could say anything. I pushed aside several bottles with my foot to create a sort of walkway for us. "Uh, you can go put your things on the kitchen table. It's through there," I pointed in the direction of the kitchen.

Tori didn't move. I stared at her, and she crossed her arms.

"What?" I asked. "The kitchen is through there. Go put your stuff down."

"Your dad has parties, he calls you and acts drunk, you come to school looking like you just got the chiz beaten out of you…" Tori said, advancing on me.

"You don't know me, Tori," I growled. "You don't know me, or my life. So stop making guesses and go into the kitchen. We can work on the project in there."

There was a silent pause.

"I'm calling my dad," Tori yelled suddenly. She reached into her purse and started digging around frantically.

"Stop! You're making assumptions, Vega, you little ASSumer. Stop being such an idiot!" I leaped towards her, fighting to get the blue PearPhone out of her hand. She slapped me on the head repeatedly.

"Get off of me Jade! You need help! This is serious!"

"No I don't. This is my problem. I can fix it myself!" I grabbed her hand, which was holding tightly onto her phone, and I wrenched it out of her grip.

"Ow! Jade! Give me my phone back!"

"No. I don't need your cop-of-a-father down in my business." I wanted to break her phone to pieces, just as my dad had done to mine, but I couldn't do it. Instead I turned it off and pocketed it.

"Give me my phone back." Tori's voice was sharp in the smelly room.

"You're going to go and tell everyone what you _assume_. And I can't have that happening, can I?" I grabbed her arm and dragged her into the kitchen. "So let's work on the project."

Tori gave me a look that could hold its own against one of my Jade-stares. Finally she said, "All right. But I'd better get my phone back before I leave. And then we need to talk."

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes and giving her the impression that I was agreeing, when the case was completely opposite. I couldn't give her her phone back. She knew too much. I would need to figure out a way to keep her quiet.

And if my dad could keep Jade West quiet for twelve years, I'm sure I could keep the little Tori Vega quiet until I figured out something.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p><em>I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and stared up at my dad, looming over me like a tall building. I couldn't breathe and my body hurt all over. In my dad's left hand was a mangled wooden coat hanger covered with my blood.<em>

_ "You're not going to tell anyone what's going on between us, right, Jadey?" _

_ I could feel his hot, smelly breath all over my face. I shook my head slowly, tears coming out of the corners of my eyes. I just wanted him to leave me alone. I would do whatever it would take._

_"No, I don't think you quite understand what I'm asking of you, Jade." He stepped on my left hand, and I could've sworn I heard the bones crunching. I was too tired to scream. _

_My dad knew when I was lying and when I was telling the truth. I'm sure if he had been a super spy—a good one mind you— I think he would've been great at telling if the enemy was lying or not. But no, he used his 'powers' for evil and abuse._

_"Do you understand?" His face was right next to my ear and I could feel his hot breath on me._

_"I...under-underst-st-st-and.." I whispered back, putting as much feeling as I could force into the words._

_ "Good. And if you do tell anyone, you know what'll happen." His blue eyes narrowed viciously._

_ Oh, I knew of course. I hated even thinking about it, it scared me so much. Yeah, that's right. Scared me, Jade West of all people._

_My dad had so much control over me. It was like I was an animal, and he was the trainer. His tricks were keeping me quiet and telling people lies about what really went on, and I listened to him because I would pay the price if I didn't. _

_But I wasn't an animal, not that they deserved to be treated in the ways that they were. _

_I was a human being, just like him._

_I was his slave, and he was my master._

_ When would I get my own freedom again?_

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>"So are we going to work or what?" Tori said to me, breaking my thoughts.<p>

"Huh? Yeah we'd better get to work before my dad gets home," I answered darkly, pulling up a stool next to her and sitting down at the messy counter. I swept away some trash with my arm, providing a somewhat clean space for Vega to put her laptop on.

Tori's eyes narrowed but she said nothing else as we got started.

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><p><strong>Oh, and the whole being an ASSumer is a hilarious joke I got from my religion teacher (yep, religion, but he's one of the best teachers I've ever had in my life). I hope you get it. XD If you don't, say the first three letter louder than the rest of the word. You'll get it.<strong>

**I hope you liked it. I'm not dragging it out, am I? That's what I did in the last version, and that's why it sucked.**

**And the whole 'climax' of the story is starting to kick off, in case you didn't notice. But the real deal happens in Chapter 10, so I bet you can't wait for that, huh?**

**Neither can I. ;) Review.**


	9. Get in My Business, You Pay the Price

**We're so close to the part that was in the summary...so close...so close...**

**Oh, and after watching that new episode...so much adorable Cade I almost died. But it's a good thing I didn't since then you guys would never get an update. XD Anyway...**

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><p>CHAPTER 9<br>Tori's POV

I didn't like this. Not one bit.

Jade had my phone, and now I couldn't call anyone to come and pick me up. Trina was having a party, and Mom and Dad were out eating dinner.

What a coincidence that that would happen.

I sighed, and put my head in my heads, leaning on the granite counter. Jade had moved over and was now sitting opposite of me. My laptop was in front of me so I couldn't see across to her, but she was busy writing something down on a pad of paper.

I sniffed, trying to ignore the strong smell of alcohol. Jade had opened up a few windows, but that only helped so much. I didn't want to look around the kitchen or family room, but figured it was just as messy as the front of the house had been.

"So what part are we on now?" Jade's voice broke the silence.

"Well, now Gia is seeing how chaotic the world is because she's just died, I think," I said, my eyes scanned the screen for some facts that I might have missed.

"Okay. Well then, I was thinking we could add…"

So we sat there in the awkward silence, working on the project. The smell of alcohol seemed to get stronger, and I asked Jade if she could do anything about it.

"Suck it up, Vega. I deal with it all the time," she replied.

"So then your dad does this a lot?" I pressed. If I was going to be stuck here, I might as well got as much information as I could so I could confirm my suspicions and tell my dad.

"I'm not going to tell you."

"You took my phone," I whined, even though that had nothing to do with the conversation.

"Suck it up Vega, or you might not be getting it back." Jade's words were sharp and clear.

I sighed. I was technically being held prisoner here.

That was against the law wasn't it?

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>We worked on the project for a while.<p>

"Hey, do you like this part?" I slid the laptop over to her, accidently knocking over her glass of water. The glass spilled everywhere, and some of the bottles and cups that we hadn't quite moved out of the way got picked up by the puddle of water and washed over the edge onto Jade's lap.

"Oh shoot!" I said. "Sorry!"

I heard a buzzing sound, and Jade jumped up. The bottles smashed to the floor. Jade reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out my sizzling, soaked PearPhone.

"Aww, man!" I yelled, racing over to her and yanking it out of her hands.

"Ha ha, that's what you get Vega," Jade sneered, shaking the mixture of water and beer from her hands and letting it fly everywhere. "And you can't blame me for that because I didn't let the glass spill."

I was holding my phone, trying to wipe it off with the bottom ends of my shirt.

"All right, well, I'm going to change out of this stuff. Don't go anywhere or do anything. Wait, that's right. You've busted your phone and you don't have a ride." She snapped her fingers mockingly before walking proudly out of the room.

I looked back at the counter, seeing a pulpy pad of paper and water dripping from the edge onto the floor. The liquid was getting close to my laptop, so I safely moved it to a small, cleaner table by the counter.

I rubbed the black screen of my phone furiously. I'm sure if I put any more pressure I would've cracked it, but that didn't matter anymore. I pressed the on button, but it didn't turn on.

I started to take my phone apart piece by piece, revealing the soppy wet battery and chip in the back. I sighed, and threw it down onto the counter angrily.

_Dang Jade and her life_! I thought, running my hand through my hair.

I heard a door open and close slowly, and then heavy footsteps in a hall somewhere. I ignored it and picked my phone back up, turning over the pieces carefully. _Dad is going to kill me_! I thought sadly.

The footsteps were getting louder, and I wondered why Jade was taking so long.

"Hey, Jade, I can hear you coming. You can't scare me," I called out.

I got no response. Shrugging, I returned to picking at my broken phone.

Without even looking up, I could see someone standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

_What the heck was wrong with Jade now_? I wondered. _Was she feeling guilty that she had been in possession of my phone when it broke and was going to apologize for it_?

But that was now the least of my worries as I looked up and saw who was standing there.

It was not Jade.

It was her father.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>"Hi, Mr. West," I said as calmly as I could. I didn't know whether to call for Jade or not and tell her that her dad was home. My fingers tightened around the pieces of my phone as I fumbled to put them back together.<p>

Jade's dad didn't say anything, but continued to stare at me with the ferocity of a lion watching its prey.

He was wearing a nice suit and red tie, but it was his face that caught my attention. His eyes were glassy-looking and distant, with his pupils black and red streaking the normally white surface. His hair looked like it had been slicked back and combed down nicely originally, because it shone in the light of the kitchen, but now some of it had come forward and was drooping on his forehead, the rest of it was looking strangely rumpled.

He took a few teetering steps into the kitchen, and I stayed put where I stood.

"You got a new phone, Jade?" Mr. West said in a low voice, getting closer and closer to me. His words were pronounced slowly but slightly slurred, causing my heartbeat to race as I realized something was not right here.

The smell of alcohol was getting stronger now.

"No, I'm not Jade, Mr. West. I'm Tori Vega," I replied, speaking slowly. "You met me before. I helped your daughter put on her play."

"Stop lying to me, Jade. I know you don't have a phone anymore. I broke it a few days ago when I banished your boyfriend. Do you not remember that?" Mr. West asked.

_Hold on…I thought Cat said Jade had dropped her phone in the toilet? And what did he just say about 'banishing' Beck_?

"You know you're not supposed to go and buy expensive things without my permission," Mr. West continued. "And you know what happens when you do."

"I am not Jade, I'm Tori," I told him patiently, although I was shaking with fear, struggling to put the pieces of information together.

"Stop lying!" Mr. West advanced on me quickly. He moved so he was inches in front of my face, and I gagged on the smell of his breath. "You're such an ungrateful little brat, you know that? I let you go to a good school, I let you live in my house…"

"But you don't give her much freedom, do you?" I challenged.

"I got fired today, Jade," Mr. West said in a dead tone of voice. "That's the second time in the past three months. And it's all your fault." His eyes were full of hatred and anger.

"Wha—what did I do?" I wanted to get more information about their relationship with each other so I would have lots of evidence to tell my dad once I got out of here.

"You existed. That's what," he snarled.

_Oh, well I think I know where Jade gets her mean comebacks from_, I thought dryly.

Mr. West reached onto the counter, and I saw him grab a completely intact beer bottle. I tensed up.

"You're drunk, Mr. West. Whatever you're going to do, don't. Put the bottle down, please," I said in my calmest voice. My dad had taught me to stay nice and cool during a situation like this, and I was going to listen to him.

"Jade, I hate you. Ya know that?" His hand retreated to his side, empty of anything that I could see. I blinked several times, unable to believe the things Jade's _own father _was saying. It was enough to make anyone sick.

"And I know I haven't been the greatest dad in the world, right?" Jade's dad lolled his head back onto his shoulders in a disgusting way. "And I see no need to be, after all, you're just an uncontrollable, ungrateful little animal.

"So maybe it's time to just end all of this. End the beatings, end the abuse, end the fear." His eyes rolled in his head, and I started shaking with fear. _Jade had to put up with this monster for how long? And why in the world did she not tell anyone_?

"My dad is a cop," I informed him. "When I tell him—"

I never finished my sentence. Mr. West lunged at me with speed I would've never thought possible with someone as drunk as he was. I fell over silently, seeing bright white stars.

He was lying on top of me, and I opened my mouth to shout for Jade, but he punched me in the face, and I felt the blood running from my nose almost immediately. I grabbed his face in my hands, trying to push it away from me, but he pulled back out of my grip. I saw his eyes clearly for a brief moment.

They were nothing but bright, bloodshot, red.

He was under the influence of alcohol, and he was going to kill me, or seriously injure me, possibly for life if I couldn't get away.

I struggled underneath his weight.

"JADE!" I screamed, much to my resentment of calling for her help when I was trying to help her in the first place. "JADE!"

Mr. West shoved my chin upwards with one of his hands, blocking my airway and shutting me up. My head tilted back and smashed onto the hardwood floor. I struggled to get his hand off my face so I could breathe.

He laughed softly at my actions, punching me in the stomach. I felt the air knocked out of me. My head spun in pain and lack of oxygen, and I looked back up at Mr. West as he got ready to hit me again.

My head hit the floor again, and I let out a muffled yelp against the palm of his hand. He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up, throwing me onto the couch. Normally, I would be very grateful to land on something like a nice, soft, couch, but in this case, someone had left some very pointy and sharp objects on it.

I fell onto a bottle of wine, and my back exploded in pain when it broke into pieces under me.

I could barely see through the pain, but Mr. West was coming towards me again, his eyes thirsty for more blood. How could anyone want to do this to someone else, drunken or not?

I had a feeling that I wasn't getting out of here in one piece, if at all. I had never given dying much thought—not that I would die here (hopefully)—but the circumstances of that happening were climbing higher and higher by the second. Jade was still upstairs, and there all sorts of things around the room I could be killed with.

As I lay there in my dizzy state, I thought about why I had wanted to even come here in the first place.

Was it because I knew something was wrong with Jade and I wanted to help her? Or was it because I innocently wanted to work on the project with her that now led to this?

No, I think it was question one.

But whatever it was, I knew something bad would have to happen before this problem could be fixed.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<p>

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><p>Jade's POV<p>

I trudged up the steps, inwardly laughing at the look of sheer stupidity and amazement when Tori had seen her phone soaked in water and beer that she had caused to fall on me in the first place.

I went into my room, and jumped onto my bed, burying my face in the blankets. I didn't care that my pants were covered with water and beer and were getting everywhere.

I reached underneath and pulled out Cat's bright pink PearPhone. As much as I despised the prissy color, I couldn't do anything about it since it wasn't mine, and I would never be mean to Cat by changing it. Maybe anyone else, though.

I quickly dialed Beck, and while it was ringing I made sure the door was closed.

He picked up, and I could tell he was tired.

"Hey, this is Jade, right?" He knew I was borrowing Cat's phone to keep in touch with him because my idiot of a father had broken mine. Of course, Beck was very worried that we would get caught talking, but I was desperate.

"Yes. How are things?"

"Well, I'm dropping off my uncle, and he's the last one," my boyfriend informed me. For the funeral, he took his RV to pick up his many relatives that lived near LA and brought them to Bakersfield, and it was also his job to drop them off.

I didn't say anything, but bit my lip. I heard the sound of a door opening and closing downstairs. Then there was something that sounded like thudding footsteps in one of the halls. _Stupid Tori. Always being a nosey brat_, I thought, rolling my eyes.

"Are you at your house?" Beck asked quietly.

"Yes."

"Is your dad home? Because if he is, I should probably go—"

"No, he's not home. But Tori is." I rolled my eyes again.

"Did you just say _Tori _is at your house?" Beck sounded very alarmed. "Wait, is that okay with your dad? I mean, I know he likes to drink and what if he comes home when you guys are—"

I cut him off again. I didn't like hearing how he cared so much about Tori. It bugged me. A lot. "Look, Beck. My dad's not home. We'll finish the project before he comes. And anyway, I drove Tori here _and _took her phone so she can't go anywhere or tell anyone anything."

"You…you took her phone and she has no way to esc—leave?"

"Yes. I need to make sure she's not going to tell anything what she's seen before she leaves," I replied, shaking my head.

I heard Beck's teeth chattering on the other end.

"I'm coming over there right now," he announced suddenly.

"No, I can handle everything by myself!" I practically shouted.

"Oh yeah, and look where that got me." I could almost see him gesturing to his injuries my dad had given him a few days ago. I clenched my teeth together angrily.

"You are not coming here, Beck Oliver. If my dad comes home and sees you…"

"So it's okay for him to see Tori and not me?"

I was so angry I hung up on him. I pressed the red button and turned Cat's phone off. I leaped onto the floor and rushed into my closet, feeling a burning sensation in my chest as I pulled on a new pair of jeans.

_Tori is not my friend! I don't give a care about what happens to her._

_Why the _heck_ did no one think I could take care of myself? I was Jade West, for crying out loud! I dealt with that monster of a father for twelve freaking years before anyone really found out__. I know Beck's my boyfriend and everything, but come on. Life is full of secrets and challenges, right?_

I was buttoning up my pants when I heard Tori.

"JADE!" she screamed with a deafening intensity. "JADE!"

_What now_? I hurried over to the door and shouted, "Hold on, Tori. Geez." I adjusted my hair, taking my sweet time, in front of my mirror before leaving my room and heading down the stairs, two at a time.

I was walking to the kitchen when I heard a thump. Cautiously, I slowed down, keeping close to the wall. Finally I came to the doorway of the kitchen, and I jumped out into the open. My heart almost stopped when I saw the scene in front of me. The first words that went through my head were:

Oh. My. God.

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><p><strong>Ooo...the intensity of writing this was so exciting! If you think this was a cliffy just wait for the next chapter...sent some people over the edge I must say...okay, I'm giving like everything away...just forget you read that. X)<strong>

**So review, peoples! **

**As I've said before, I'll say it again. If you _think _know what happens because of the PMs I sent you, PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL IT FOR ANYONE ELSE. I could've changed it you know.**

**I'm dead serious about that, you guys. No joke.**


	10. You Don't Know Me

**Well, here it is you guys. The climax of "You Don't Know Me," hence the title of the chapter as well. XD It has been combined from 2 chapters on many requests from the original version.**

**I won't talk too much up here because I know you want to read it. But please check out the bottom author's note.**

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><p>CHAPTER 10<br>Tori's POV

I saw Jade standing in the doorway, her face covered with a look of sheer horror. Mr. West had me pinned to the wall, his fist raised in mid-punch. My nose was broken (I heard the crunch moments ago) and blood was gushing out like a waterfall. I shut my mouth feeling the hot liquid dripping down onto my lips and running off my chin, spattering my shirt.

Mr. West threw me roughly to the floor. I scampered forward on my knees, but he leaped on top of me, and suddenly I was staring straight down at the floor.

There was something very pointy wedged beneath my stomach and the ground, and it poked me painfully when Mr. West sat down on me with all of his weight. I couldn't breathe, and there was a puddle of sticky blood forming around my head from my nose.

"JABE!" I yelled with the little air I had in my lungs and through the blood pouring out. "Jabe, helb me!" Jade's dad smashed my face into the floor, and then I couldn't see anything.

I felt his weight shift heavily to one side, although I couldn't see what he was trying to get with my face buried into the floor—and then there was a piercing, whistling sound. I didn't hear the smash of the bottle as it broke on my right shoulder, but I did _feel _it. The glass shards cut through my shirt and embedded themselves in my skin. I let out an involuntary squeak just as he grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me off the ground in one move.

Still keeping a firm hold on me, Jade's dad drew back his fist and punched me in the gut. I doubled over as he let go of my neck, coughing and gagging. I was stunned in the pain.

_I have to fight back…I have to fight back. _

_For everyone else's sake._

_No one else knows what's was happening to me. My phone was broken, and my parents' dinner wouldn't be over for another few hours…not to mention the fact that I never even gave them Jade's address...but Dad was a cop; he would figure it out eventually, I hope. And maybe the neighbor's across the street could hear what was going on..._

Mr. West launched his huge fist towards my head, but surprisingly I ducked and avoided it. I cowered back against the wall, and when he advanced on me, I kicked his right kneecap, feeling satisfied when I heard the dull crunch. He reached down for his knee immediately and I danced around him, avoiding being cornered.

I had practically no sense of direction as this point, and I looked around wildly to find Jade. I didn't see her, but maybe that was because I was looking around so fast that I missed her.

Unbeknownst to me, Mr. West had regained his senses and was limping towards me, much more heavily than before as I had just disabled his right leg.

He swung a heavy blow to the back of my head, and it made contact. I fell forward, barely missing the puddle of beer on the floor as I put my hands out to brace my fall. I felt his own hands grabbing my shoulders, trying to pull me up, when suddenly there was a sound of shattering glass.

Mr. West dropped me back down, and clutched his left arm, howling angrily.

I looked up and saw Jade finally, her body poised liked she had just thrown something. I looked back up at her dad, and saw the pieces of glass sticking out of his arm, which he was grabbing at madly, ripping them out.

I was speechless for a moment.

_Wait...Jade's actually trying to save me? Oh my gosh, if only I could get that on camera_.

But her dad was reacting faster than ever. I don't think he could really feel any physical pain, but I'm sure the surprise attack definitely upset him.

Because I was frozen in amazement at Jade's brief actions, he saw this as his chance and snatched me up. Before I could wriggle out of his grip, I found myself flying through the air and landing on the kitchen table.

I slid the length of the wooden surface, knocking over everything and sending it all tumbling to the floor. I finally fell off the other side, dazed, my head swimming and I was seeing double of everything.

Jade's dad shuffled towards me, his mouth lopsidedly open, his arms swinging back and forth like windmills. He reached me within seconds.

I reached up and smashed a fist into his face, feeling satisfied until I felt a dull pain explode in my hand.

I backed away from him to run towards Jade, but somehow he managed to get in between us, even though I had just stunned him with the blow to his face.

His eyes were so glassy-looking and glazed over that I thought he was blind. A drop of blood slid down from his hairline and rolled down his cheek. He was panting, the smell of alcohol was so strong it smelled like a hospital.

My heart was racing so fast I thought it was going to burst. Mr. West tilted his head to one side, his face lighting up and showing no pain or fear. He charged at me like a bull.

As he reached his arms out to grab me, I jumped before they could close around me. Mr. West didn't see that he had missed me, because he kept running. If I hadn't jumped so high he probably would've just knocked me to the floor, but I was up in the air and I literally flew over his head and landed down on his back, slipping to the floor. In that same instant, I struggled to get up and tried to run towards Jade.

But Mr. West had seen, or at least felt, me get around him. He spun in a circle and stomped towards me, his feet slipping on the trash, and every step sending mini shock-waves rumbling through the floor. I was stumbling too, and suddenly, he leaped towards me, tackling me to the floor.

I couldn't get up. I was on my stomach and Mr. West was too heavy on my back. I reached out my arm towards Jade, hoping she would see it and come to my aid. But she just stood there, her face glazed in fear and sunken in her thoughts.

Maybe I could understand why she wasn't doing anything anymore. This man sitting on top of me had tormented her for years, causing her great pain and forcing her to lie to all of her friends and the few people she loved.

I could hear Mr. West breathing in my ear, his breath clouding my face and burning my eyes and nose with the strong scent of beer. He leaned to the left and grabbed something, and then scooted down my back a little. My heart was pounding and pounding and I thought he was going to finish me off any moment now.

But just then, I felt something incredibly sharp stab deep into the back of my right knee. I couldn't stop myself from screaming with the terrible pain. I was glad that he didn't seem like he was going to rape me, but it wasn't much better with half a bottle in your leg.

I looked up at Jade, my eyes blurry with tears that were coming out.

I realized in that moment that Jade had been right this entire time.

_"You don't know me."_

She was absolutely, one hundred percent right.

I didn't know her like I thought I had. She was standing there, watching me get attacked by her own father, and not lending me a hand, let alone try and get someone _else _to help. I thought she might, but she didn't.

My cockiness and horrible planning had gotten me here today.

Stuck on the floor with a bottle in my leg and a full-grown man on my back, who was probably going to knock me unconscious any moment before killing me.

I thought Jade was better than this. No matter how she acted before, I never expected this reaction from her.

"Jabe," I whispered with my horrible speech impediment, "plead don leab me." Well, I mean to say, 'Please don't leave me here to die,' but that was the only things I could manage with her dad on top of me.

Though my vision was terribly blurred and my head spun in a fiery pain, I could still see a few feet in front of me. Jade's face was contorted in the agony of making a decision that would determine our fate.

I blinked, and she was gone.

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><p>Jade's POV<p>

I was in complete shock when I saw my dad attacking Tori, who was up against the wall, her nose twisted at an awkward angle and blood was pouring out. _When did he get home_? I thought. Then I realized that the click of a door opening and closing had not been Tori, but probably him coming through the back of the house. And then when Tori was screaming my name…I felt so ashamed. I had been taking my sweet time after all, not knowing the danger that she was in….

I watched as my dad threw Tori onto the floor and jumped on top of her. My heart was pounding faster then a cheetah chasing down its prey. I was more scared than I ever had been in my entire life. Sure, every time my dad managed to get into my room I was terrified out of my wits because I knew he was going to hurt me, but seeing him hurting someone else was a completely different story.

It was like watching him hurt Beck.

I couldn't stand it, even as much as I hated Tori.

"JABE!" Tori screeched. "Jabe, helb me!"

_ Jabe? Oh, she must've been trying to say, 'Jade, help me!'_ I knew at that point that things were not going to get better, and I would be faced with the decision to save Tori.

One of my many enemies.

I was stuck to the spot, unsure of what to do. My thoughts were traveling so fast I almost couldn't even keep up with them.

_Should I go and rescue Tori from my dad before he kills her_? There was a smash of a bottle, and I flinched hearing it, remembering all the times that my dad had been hitting me instead.

_No, Jade, I think you need to get out of the house before he turns on you too_, the voice of my practical mind spoke to me suddenly.

_What would Tori do for you if she saw you getting beat by your father_? my heart responded.

I looked up and saw Tori backing up against the wall behind her. She kicked my dad in the knee, and when he leaned over to grab it, she wormed her way out of being trapped.

_Tori can take care of herself_, my mind replied sharply.

But my dad was fast, even as drunk as a sailor. He knocked Tori onto the floor with a heavy blow.

Without thinking, I lunged towards the counter, my finger curling around the neck of an empty beer bottle. I threw it at my dad's arm as hard as I could, and I felt excited when I heard it crumble under contact. My dad yelped, desperately trying to rip the shards out.

_Why would you do that_? my mind whined. _Now he's going to come after you too! Way to go, smarty pants_.

Tori looked up at me—gratefulness shown in her eyes under all the pain. The sight of it actually made me happy for once (even though it included Tori), knowing that I wasn't a loser and a fail like my dad always called me.

Although my mind had predicted that my dad would come after me, I don't even think he noticed that I had thrown the bottle. Instead, he charged towards Tori after he had taken the glass out of his arm and picked her up, throwing her onto the kitchen table. She slid across, knocking everything off before hitting the floor.

He walked towards her, but just then Tori punched him in the face and leaped up.

_Jade, you need to get out of here now_, the voice of my mind said to me. _Tori can take care of herself, can't you see? You've dealt with that monster for twelve years, maybe it's time to let someone else have a go_.

_No, Jade. Tori's in danger. You need to help her_, my heart interrupted. _You help her, you get hurt too. Is that what you want_? my mind asked. _And anyway, what has Tori ever done for you_?

_Tori has helped you in more ways that you can imagine, you've just never realized it_, my heart argued back. _Remember with your first break-up with Beck? She was the one to get you two back together. Remember when you had no money to put on your play, _Well Wishes_? She was the one that found the crazy restaurant lady that helped you out._

_ And that's it, isn't it_? my mind seethed. _I can think of a hundred things that Tori's done to negatively effect your life. We can just start with the fact that she existed_...

_Think about what _else_ Tori would be willing to do for you_, my heart said quickly. _I mean, if you were in trouble, Tori would try and save you the best she could, right? You didn't want her knowing anything about your abuse, but she figured it out anyway_.

_Well, that's Tori. So stubborn-headed, thinking that she can take on anything. But I know for a fact that if you try and save her, your dad will probably end up killing you too_, the voice of my mind said to me. in a more reasonable manner. _He seems more drunk than usual and out of control…I don't think you'd want to die for Tori, would you?_

_ Whoever said anything about dying_? I thought, inserting my own say in this argument. _Although death would be pretty cool…I don't think I'd want to die _just_ because of Tori_.

Suddenly, I saw Tori leap into the air, flying over my dad's head and landing on his back. She fell to the floor and scrambled to get up. My dad staggered to turn around and go after Tori. He slipped on the trash, and I felt the floor rumbling under his weight.

_Remember how annoying she was, thinking that she knew everything about you and your life_? my mind snarled in my head, trying to start a topic that it knew it would win in. _She's just one of those people who think everyone else's business is theirs, Jade. Wouldn't it be great if there was one less of those people in the world_?

_ Have you even tried to look at Tori's intentions_? my heart asked.

_Intentions are nothing compared to the result of what happens in the end_, my mind interrupted harshly. I knew that the voice of my mind was making much more sense now, and was extremely believable. So what would that mean for Tori?

My dad reached Tori, tackling her to the ground. Tori was on her stomach, my dad literally sitting on top of her. She reached her arm out to me in a pleading way. I looked past her and saw my dad raise something that glittered in the light of the kitchen and bring it down into Tori's leg. She screamed, and the sound made me want to cover my ears.

_Help her, Jade_! my heart shouted, drowning out Tori.

_Run_! my mind said instead.

Tori looked up at me, tears running down her face. My heart twisted up at the sight, and I felt like I couldn't breathe.

_What are you DOING_? my mind yelled, shattering all of my thoughts, and probably very upset that I was feeling this way about Tori. _RUN, Jade! Stop standing there like a fool! GET OUT OF THERE_!

I was in such a conflicted situation. I felt like I had been standing there for an eternity, when in reality, it had probably only been a minute or so ever since I first got to the kitchen.

Tori's eyes were full of pain and begging, and I saw my dad trying to get the thing he had stabbed her with out of her leg.

_ Jade, if you don't do something now, it'll be too late_, my heart told me in a gentle voice. _So I suggest you make the choice soon_.

_Yeah, and make sure you choose the right one_, my mind reminded me harshly.

"Jabe," Tori said suddenly, breaking my thoughts, "plead don leab me."

Was Tori really going to be worth it? Beck was a whole different story. And speaking of my boyfriend...he was coming here wasn't he? Maybe I could just wait until he arrived and then he could save Tori. I knew that he had a soft spot for her ever since the day she came to HA. But of course, he still loved me more.

_It might be too late by that time_, my heart said calmly. _Tori cares about you, Jade, and she wants to help you_.

I wasn't really able to think very clearly, but I knew that I wasn't going to be standing around any longer. I knew what I had to do, and I knew what I wanted to do.

So, I made my decision without thinking twice.

I would never forget the look on Tori's face as I ran towards the door.

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><p><strong>Probably the biggest cliffys in the whole wide world, I think. Sorry.<strong>

**So, do you think I should update with the next chapter?**

**This is where I stopped updating in the original, for those of you who didn't read the first one...because of my many personal issues (but they've gotten better in case you're wondering)...**

**If you think I should continue, THEN TELL ME. It's not going to happen if you don't speak up. XD**


	11. Wrong

**Well, you guys asked for it so you shall receive! **

**The moment you've all been waiting for!**

***Drumroll* CHAPTER 11! So go on, just read it! And if you're wondering, this is exactly what was supposed to happen in the original version as well, I just never got to updating it :/... so here it is now!**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>CHAPTER 11<br>Jade's POV

But I wasn't running to get away. I was running to the door because I knew that there was a weapon by it.

The umbrella.

Yes, it was an umbrella, but in the heat of moment, it was the only thing I could think of that I could attack my dad with, especially with my two stupid subconscious yapping away and keeping me from thinking straight. My feet slipped across the floor in my haste. I grabbed the huge umbrella in my hands and rushed back to the kitchen.

My dad had pulled out the half-broken bottle from Tori's leg and stabbed it in again. She screamed and I felt anger burning in my throat like a fire. I charged at my dad, hitting him in the side with the pointy end of the umbrella. He yelled and fell off of her onto the floor with a crash.

I kept my hand on the umbrella as my dad struggled to get up, his arms grabbing the air madly as he tried to find something to hold onto. There was blood spilling from his side, but I think he was too drunk to feel anything. The only thing he wanted was to kill us now.

I reached down with my other hand and tried to pull Tori up.

"Tori! Get up, come on!" I dropped the umbrella onto the floor and used both of my hands to get her to stand.

"Ow! Jabe, leggo!" Tori seemed to come to life, and she tried to push away from me, collapsing on the floor, squealing in pain when she landed on her bad leg.

"No, get up! We have to get out of here!" I tugged on her arm.

"Ow, stob," Tori mumbled, more tears appearing in her eyes.

"Hurry up, then!" I yelled, feeling more and more panicked by the second. I come back to save her, and she wasn't cooperating at all.

My dad was standing up, drool and blood coming out of his mouth, and he was holding onto the couch arm to steady himself.

"Your bab," Tori said, starting to sob, "pud sometin in by leb."

"What?" I glanced over at my dad and saw that he was trying to reach for a broken wine bottle on the floor, but he was so weak and drunk that he fell over trying to pick it up.

Good. That would buy us some more time.

"By leb hurds," Tori moaned.

"Just suck it up until we get out of here," I replied, my more Jade-like mood coming back. If I was going to rescue her, I wasn't going to change my attitude one bit. I grabbed both her arms and pulled her into a standing position. Tori screamed and collapsed, but I caught her before she hit the floor.

"By leb, by leb," Tori cried. "I cand walk."

"Oh my god," I groaned. _How the heck was I going to get her out of my house now_? "It's only one leg. Can't you stand at all?" I took a look at my dad. He had the wine bottle in his hand and was creeping towards us on his knees, no fear or pain in his glassy eyes.

"Doh," Tori whispered, shaking her head.

I sighed. _Why does every good thing I try to do end up complicating the situation more than before_? Tori grabbed my shoulders and finally attempted to pull herself up. I leaned over and helped her until she was properly on my left side, holding on to me for dear life.

"Okay, then, let's go," I said, taking a step forward. Tori's grip around my neck tightened so hard around me that I lost my breath for a moment. "What the heck is wrong now, Vega?" I choked out, not stopping as I half-carried, half-dragged us out of the kitchen.

"Oh by gob, dis hurds so much," Tori said in a tight voice.

I had the strong urge to tell her that it was her problem and she should just suck it up until we got to the door, but I kept my mouth shut. I took us three more steps, and Tori was literally panting in my ear. What the heck?

"Hey, wait, where'd my dad go?" I asked her, stopping in our tracks.

"Right behind you," a voice that could not be Tori's said.

Before I could react, something hit me very hard in the back and I fell forward, taking Tori down with me. Tori shrieked as we fell, but she still was holding on to me.

"I'll kill you both," my dad snarled loudly.

I looked over my shoulder to see if I could determine where my dad was standing, but we were in the living room and it was pitch-black. Tori's grip loosened on me and eventually disappeared completely as she tried to crawl in a different direction.

Suddenly, I saw something sparkle in the faint lights coming from the kitchen. I rolled onto my back, pushing Tori out of the way, and I saw the sparkle move. Immediately, there was a loud smash, and I looked at the spot where I had just been lying, seeing the broken remains of a wine bottle.

_We have to get out of here now, we have to get out of here now_, I thought desperately. It would only be a matter of time before my dad found something even more dangerous to use on us.

"Tori, run for the door!" I yelled, standing up shakily and peering around in the darkness.

"I don know wid direcshun dats in," Tori replied in a muffled voice on the floor.

I was about to say something else when a foldable chair came flying at me from a random direction. I toppled over into the bookshelf, sending the objects scattering across the floor. I struggled to get up, but I had nothing to hold on to.

Suddenly, something else came zooming towards me. With my luck, it hit me full in the face, and I fell back over in the pain of it as I heard the bottle break when it made contact. I grabbed my face in my hands, feeling the sticky liquid and glass pieces now stuck in my skin.

The lights in the living room came on, and I was briefly blinded. Through my fingers I saw that Tori was crouched down by the couch, and I took my hands off my face and blinked, seeing my dad standing by the light switch.

There was blood staining the side I had stabbed with the umbrella, and he was leaning over a little bit, like he was in pain or something. His pants at the knees were torn open and his shirt was half unbuttoned at the bottom. There was a gash on his forehead and a bruise on his chin, and his bloodshot eyes were darting around the room. In his left hand was the foot-long bread knife that we kept in the kitchen, and his right hand was pulled into a fist.

_Where is Beck_? I thought. _He should be here by now_.

"Tori, go to the door," I said slowly, getting up painfully.

"I'b nod gonna leab you," Tori said stubbornly. "You didend leab me."

My dad limped away from the wall where the light switch was. His legs were flopping around wildly, and I was surprised that he managed to keep his balance. The knife hung loosely at his side. I leaned over and picked up half of a beer bottle, turning to face him.

_This time I actually stand a chance against him_, I thought boldly. All of the other times he always had one thing on his side: the element of surprise. Sure, he did have it this time, but now I was fully prepared with a bottle in my hand and I turned to face him. I said loudly, "Tori, get out of here and go find help."

Tori shook her head.

My dad was getting closer and closer to me, inch by inch.

_If Tori doesn't get out, it's going to be too late_.

"Tori, if you really care about me, then you'd go and get help." I brought the bottle up to show my dad that I would use it if I needed to. I don't think he saw it because he didn't even hesitate. Or he was just really, really drunk.

I glanced down at Tori and she was crying again. But for some reason, I knew that they were not tears of pain, but tears of concern and sadness. She didn't want to leave me here with my dad. She had to, though, if she wanted both of us to get out of this alive.

"Jade, you make such wonderful friends," my dad croaked, twirling the knife in his hands. I thought he was going to drop it, but he didn't.

"And you obviously don't," I countered, gesturing to the trash-filled room.

My dad wagged a finger at me. "Don't be like that," he said in a slurred voice, taking a big step forward. I stepped back, colliding into the half-broken bookshelf and almost falling over again.

I felt threatened when he moved towards me. Whenever he did that, it usually meant that he was getting ready to beat me.

So this time I made the first move.

I lunged at him, knocking him off his feet and causing him to land on his back. The knife slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Run, Tori!" I yelled, breaking my dad's nose with the bottle in my hands. He coughed and spluttered as blood sprayed everywhere. I was going to hit him again, but he grabbed my arm before it could touch his face, and in that brief hesitation, he took advantage and kicked me off of him. I flew in the air and landed in the hallway by the stairs, and it was far away from the front door.

My dad got up faster than I thought possible, picking back up the knife. I tried to stand up, but I couldn't breathe and my head was spinning. He charged towards me, knife raised in the air.

I knew that he was going to kill me. I strained my ears to see if I could hear the front door opening and Tori getting out of the house. I was trying to look around my dad, to see if I could find Tori's shadow.

But he was in the way, leaving me to keep looking at the sick, evil expression on his face and the knife in his hands.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYXZ<p>

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><p>Tori's POV<p>

I didn't want to leave Jade as she stood up to confront her dad. After all, he was holding a bread knife and looking more dangerous than ever. And _I _was supposed to be the one confronting him about his abusive habits, but instead I was sitting here on the floor with a bottle stuck in my leg.

"Run, Tori!" Jade yelled as she tackled her dad to the floor. She broke his nose with a shattering smash from the bottle in her hand, and then tried to hit him again. Mr. West grabbed her arm in mid-air, and while Jade was stunned by the sudden movement, he kicked her in the stomach and she disappeared down one of the halls that were out of my view.

I struggled to crawl towards the door, every movement sending pain shooting up my leg. I reached up and grabbed the doorknob, desperately trying to twist it in my hands.

It finally clicked and swung open. I looked behind me and saw Mr. West going after Jade, the knife in his hand. I used every last ounce of my power to drag myself onto the front porch.

I lay down, trying to breathe, listening to the door close firmly behind me. I would need to get help if I wanted Jade to get out of there alive. My leg was hurting worse than ever, and I knew I needed to take a rest in case I passed out.

Suddenly a truck came by and parked on the curb. Seconds later, another familiar-looking car swerved around the corner into view, parking abruptly behind the truck.

I waved my arm back and forth, and the truck door opened.

And out came Beck.

The car door opened and André hopped out, looking over at Beck briefly, worry etched into his face, and very noticeable even in the dark.

My heart soared immediately, and I don't think I've ever been happier in my life to see them both.

"Bed and Andway!" I said excitedly, grinning slightly at the way I pronounced their names through my bloody nose.

"Tori?" André called, running around the front his car and heading towards me. "Oh my god, what happened?" He crouched down next to me, looking up as Beck charged towards us, limping slightly. As he got closer, I saw several nasty bruises and cuts on his face. I wondered what had happened to him.

"Jabe is dill indide," I tried to tell him, but I still couldn't talk right. "Her bab is in dare." I paused, looking up at Beck. His face was stone-still before he went behind me and barged into Jade's house without saying a single word.

"Whad's goin' on, Andway?"

"Shh…stop talking, Tori." André grabbed my hand, kneeling down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his dark green PearPhone. He dialed with one hand and said, "I think we're going to have to move—"

He never finished his sentence because at that moment, there was terrible, ear-piercing scream that obviously couldn't have been Beck. André's eyes widened, and he leaped up, entering the house, but not before throwing me his phone.

I brought it up to my ear, resenting getting my blood on the smooth surface. I hoped André wouldn't mind too much.

"911, what is your emergency?" a female voice on the other end answered.

"I deed helb," I told them, "I'b at a fwend's house and her bab attad us." I was silently cursing at myself for the way I was talking. It would probably take the lady on the other end a while to figure what I had said, if she had understood and heard me at all.

"I deed helb," I repeated, stretching out the words. "My fwend has been attattid by her fawder, and we deed helb now."

There was a silence on the other end, and my heart starting racing again.

"You need help," the voice said, "Your friend has been attacked by her father, is that correct?"

"Yed, yed," I exclaimed, hearing noises coming from inside the house. It sounded like people shouting and lots of thuds. I looked across the street and saw lights appearing in the windows of the neighbors.

"Okay, give us your exact location and don't hang up," the person said, as I quickly rattled off Jade's address. "Just stay calm and don't worry; help is on the way."

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><p><strong>All right, so I'll give you a moment to let all your feelings out.<strong>

**...**

**Done?**

**Ha ha! I bet you weren't expecting THAT to happen (if you've never read it before). Sneaky plot twist huh? See, I wanted to make you guys believe that Jade was going to leave Tori, even though she was really just getting something to defend herself with. That was the whole point of the title, "You Don't Know Me."**

**So basically if you thought Jade was just going to leave Tori, you were wrong.  
>And if you thought Jade would never leave Tori (in the previous chapter), she did for like five seconds, so you were partially wrong.<strong>

**Relates to the name of the chapter, huh? :D**

**Yep. So that is like the biggest moment of the entire story, right in this chapter. **

**Go on! Tell me what you expected to happen and how you felt what did happen! :)**


	12. Heaven and Hell

**You know, until I saw the reviews I actually didn't realize that I had left you guys with a cliffy on that last chapter. Haha, I know I'm so smart. XD**

**Oh, and if you received this chapter in that PM a long time ago, you might notice that this is more detailed, and there also will be a Chapter 13. If you remember me saying that this chapter 'was cut for editing purposes' it was actually cut because I didn't want to send every single person like twenty messages. So this (and the next chapter) is kind of like an extended version...sort of.**

**Anyway...**

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><p>CHAPTER 12<br>Jade's POV

I felt the dull thud of the wall against my back. My dad was advancing on me, and I was trapped.

"What is wrong with you?" I practically shouted at his face, trying to hold my own.

"Nothing is wrong with me," he replied, spit flying from his mouth.

"Oh sure. And that's why you're the only parent I know that loves to come home everyday more drunk than anyone can imagine and beat the crap out of his only kid," I hissed.

"There's much more of a reason that, Jade, you just don't know it."

"Really?" I mocked surprise.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah." His head bobbed up and down. "I got fired again today, Jade. And that's all because of you." My jaw clamped shut audibly. "If I hadn't gotten distracted that day, when you're boyfriend came over, I could've gotten my work done, and I would still have my job."

"You were drunk. It didn't matter if Beck came over or not."

My dad ignored that, and stood in front of me, his breath clouding my face. "I've been waiting for this day for a long, long time, Jade." He poked me with the knife, and I grabbed it instinctively in a tight hold. He pulled away, cutting open my hand.

I sucked in a breath painfully and pressed my hand against my back.

"Ever since the day your no-good-of-a-mom left me with you. I didn't want to be left with a filthy troublemaker like you. I had to make sure you knew who was boss before it got out of control."

"You don't know me!" I yelled, my throat scratching. "You just assumed that I would never get any better and I would act the same way my entire life. People change. All the time.

"You never gave me a chance. You never trusted me. And now a bunch of innocent people's lives will never be the same all because of you!"

I had done it. I had done the one thing he hated above everything else I did.

I talked back to him, and told him that what he was doing was wrong. I made my stand, something I did only one other time when I was ten and almost got run over with his car.

I felt my eyes getting blurry. _Why the heck was I crying? If he's going to kill me, I'll at least stand up to him before I do_.

Suddenly, without another reaction, my dad shoved the knife into my left shoulder.

I don't think I've ever felt such pain in my life.

Sure, I was in love with scissors and played with them all the time, sometimes cutting myself in the process. Sure, I got abused a lot, practically every day.

But this was a completely different feeling.

It was a burst of agony, and I felt the serrated edge ripping through my skin and breaking my bone. I screamed, and slumped to the floor. I couldn't move, and then another horrible feeling shot up my body as the knife somehow was pushed deeper into my skin and I was impaled to the ground. The blood blossomed red on my shirt as I lay there on the floor, panting in pain.

My dad laughed out loud, his hands going behind his back. "I warned you never to do that, Jadey. I warned you, and now you pay the price. Don't accuse me of things I never did."

"Y-y-you…li-li-li-liar…" I tried to gasp.

I never heard his answer. My vision was blurry, and I couldn't breathe from the pain. I was lying here, just waiting for him to finish me off once and for all.

_You're going to die for Tori, you're going to die for Tori_, the voice of mind said, coming back to me. _I thought you were better than this, Jade_.

_It's not just Tori_, I thought. _My dad is going to be charged with a murder when they find my dead body…and no matter what my friends thought; they didn't know me. I would be willing to sacrifice myself to make the world a better place._

I saw him lift up one of his feet, moving it so it hovered inches from my face as I stared up at the ceiling, paralyzed in pain. I knew that one stomp and my head could break open.

"Good-bye, Jade. I hope you have a nice time in hell," were his last words.

He brought his foot up to bring it down harder with more momentum.

I heard a familiar voice, and everything went black.

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLNMOPQRSTUVWYXZ<p>

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><p>I felt myself swimming in darkness. I heard voices and loud screams of pain. I opened my eyes, but saw nothing.<p>

_Am I dead_? I thought.

I turned my head side-to-side, but still saw black. I put my hands out in front of me, I think, and waved them around. I couldn't even see them, unless my body wasn't responding to any messages from my brain.

Suddenly, there was a flash of white, and I saw what was around me. I saw random people standing around me, with masks on their faces and I could only see their eyes, full of terror and fear.

"Don't go, Jade! Please!" a person whose voice sounded very similar to Beck's shouted.

_I don't want to go anywhere. I don't even know where I am_, I thought dully.

Something dripped onto my face, and it burned. I thrashed around in the white, realizing that I was just floating on air. My hand stung and I looked at it, seeing a huge, bloody red gash crossing the surface.

And then everything around me seemed to explode.

Flames taller than buildings engulfed around me, and I think my shoulder must've caught on fire because the pain was so horrible and sudden that I stopped breathing. I tried to use my hand and pat out the burning sensation, but it started spreading all over my body.

I screamed, the pain passing its peak and getting hotter still.

I heard someone laughing evilly in a deep, gravelly way, similar to my dad.

_Shoot…I must be in hell…_

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><p>ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZ<p>

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><p>I woke up when the burning smell of alcohol and sterilization hit my nose. I opened my eyes—well, I tried to, at least.<p>

I could see again, and there was a bright white light above me that made me squint. Bringing my left hand up to block it, I felt a horrible pain run up my arm.

"Ow! Dang it," I mumbled.

_Can this still be hell? Sure doesn't look or smell like it_.

"Jade?" a high-pitched voice said from somewhere.

"Who's that?" I said, turning my head slowly at the sound of the voice. Everything felt really sore, especially my shoulder. There was something clamped around my index finger, and I heard a very fain and annoying beep. My eyes had adjusted to the bright lights and I realized I was in some sort of hospital.

I saw a familiar redhead standing there. "Cat?"

The girl squealed with delight and ran over to me. "Yay, Jade! You're alive!" She reached over to hug me, but stopped, her eyes searching around me, probably looking for an area to hug without actually hurting me. Eventually she settled for patting my head.

I struggled to sit up and face my best friend. I discovered that there was an IV needle stuck in my arm when I felt it wiggle around uncomfortably when I moved. Cat helped me and I finally laid my back against the wall, sighing from the effort.

"How did I get here?" I asked as Cat sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Tori called 911 when Beck and André went into your house to find you," Cat said, bouncing up and down a little, a huge smile on her face.

"Wait…Beck and André were there?" I asked, trying to remember everything.

"Yeah. Beck said he went into your house and saw you on the floor, and your dad was going to step on your head and kill you," Cat said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. I narrowed my eyes, remembering _that _part and all of the pain. "And André came in too and helped Beck stop your dad."

I smiled. I looked around the room, at the white walls and sparkling tiles, and the huge machine next to the bed. It had tons of wires sticking out leading towards the needles stuck inside my body that seemed to be monitoring my pulse and heartbeat. My left shoulder and hand were wrapped in heavy white gauze, and it felt weird.

"So, what exactly happened?"

Before Cat could answer, André, Beck and Robbie walked into my room. André and Robbie shared identical grins, while Beck looked extremely relieved. I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

"Hey, Jade, you're awake!" Robbie exclaimed, standing by Cat.

"Yeah, we were pretty worried that you won't going to come out of it," André said.

Beck's face lit up when he saw me staring at him. He strode over and gave me a soft kiss. He pulled away and I looked up him, seeing several bruises and half-healed cuts on his face. André pulled up some chairs from a corner of the room and everyone sat down.

"How are you feeling?" Beck asked, reaching over and holding my uninjured hand, although it was taped up with wires.

"Okay, I guess. Can someone please explain to me what exactly happened? I can't remember any of it," I asked.

Cat had moved and was sitting on Robbie's lap for some reason, I guess to give me more space on the bed. It's a good thing he didn't bring that darned puppet.

André cleared his throat, but it was Beck who started talking.

"Well, on Thursday, which was four days ago, which makes today Sunday…after your dad 'banished' me from your home and ever being your boyfriend again, I called André up and told him what happened."

I glared at him, realizing that he had told yet another person my secret.

"And then I told André to keep an eye on you, because I got a text from my mom, saying that Grandpa passed away the previous night." Beck paused, and he was blinking hard for a few moments. "So André said yes, and also that he wouldn't tell anyone."

"But then came the day that Tori told me she would be going over to your house," André picked up, "and I started to freak out because I thought your dad was going to be home and might hurt her too.

"So I tried to warn Tori…but she didn't really listen to me, and I couldn't tell her it was because I was worried that she might get hurt like Beck had, because technically, even I wasn't supposed to know about it.

"That night, I kept texting her but after a while she never replied—which I later learned was because you took her phone and then it got broken."

I blinked guiltily.

"But then I got a call from Beck saying that Tori was at your house, which was a little later. He was just dropping off his last relative and said that we should both go over and see if everything was all right, especially when you hung up on him."

"And so, we both drove over," Beck continued, "and it was a good thing we did, because right away we found Tori sitting on your porch with a bottle stuck in her leg and she looked pretty messed up." He shook his head.

"I went into the house right away, because I figured that your dad was in there too, and so were you, and I was right." Beck stopped, and he rolled his eyes like he was trying to get rid of something in them without actually touching them.

"An-an-and I found you, on the floor, impaled with a freaking bread knife…and your dad was about to step on your head…" His voice was cracking, and I tightened my hand in his as strongly as I could. He pulled his hand away and put his head in them. Cat patted his shoulders.

André finished the story. "So that whole time I was outside trying to call 911 and help Tori, but then I heard you scream a couple moments after Beck went in, so I went inside too, in case he needed help or you were in serious trouble.

"Beck stopped your dad from crushing your head by jumping into him and they both crashed through a door and disappeared. I stayed with you, but I don't think you were really conscious…" André trailed off, looking right into my eyes. "But anyway, Tori got ahold of 911 and they came and here we are now."

Robbie said, "And your dad's been sentenced to seven years in prison for assault and attempted murder, Jade, if that makes you feel any better."

A let a small grin appear on my lips. I wouldn't be hearing from that jerk any time soon.

"So…where's Tori?" I asked.

No one moved. Suddenly the little beepy machine by my bed got _very _loud and I could feel my heartbeat racing. I looked at everyone's face: they told me nothing. Beck was gazing at me, his eyes red.

There's no way Tori could be dead.

No frickin' way in the whole world.

I did not stand up to my dad for nothing. I did not get stabbed for nothing. Tori had to be alive. Getting a bottle stuck in your leg and tossed around a bit wasn't exactly life-threatening was it?

It was like I had summoned her by my own thoughts, for suddenly she was standing in the doorway of the room. She was on crutches, wearing a white t-shirt and white shorts, and for a second I thought she was an angel or something. Around her right knee was a cast and her face was similar to mine: covered in cuts and bruises, and there was something taped across the bridge of her nose.

Immediately, André, Cat and Robbie got up and left without a word. Beck didn't move, his hand wrapped tightly around mine.

"Hi, Jade."

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><p><strong>So hopefully any questions regarding what André and Beck did to save Jade and Tori were answered. <strong>

**Believe it or not, there's only one more chapter left, you guys. I've written the epilogue, but I doubt writing a sequel. This is just one of those stories that can be resolved in the end. No need for another one.**

**Review! **


	13. Keep Your Enemies Closer

**And here we are with the last official chapter of "You Don't Know Me." **

** I hope you guys enjoyed the story. I really enjoyed writing it. So thanks for appreciating my work by favoriting, reviewing, alerting and just reading this. It means more to me than you could ever imagine.**

**So here you go.**

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><p>CHAPTER 13<br>Tori's POV

I'm not going to lie.

When I first got into Jade's room, I was shocked to see her condition. Her left shoulder was wrapped in white, and she looked paler than normal, which was saying something. Her face was splotched with purple bruises and bright red cuts. I was on crutches, my right leg dangling above the floor. André, Cat and Robbie pushed past me, leaving me with her and Beck, just like we had planned.

"Hi, Jade," I said, moving towards her. Thankfully, the doctors had managed to fix my nose, even though I now had to wear an awkward tape-thing across the bridge of it to keep the bone from shifting around. At least I could talk normal again, although I did get a kick out of how I was pronouncing things.

"You're alive, Vega," Jade said, her blue eyes strangely dull, even with her boyfriend by her side. "Glad to see that I didn't sacrifice myself for nothing." She pointed to her shoulder with the bandages on it.

_Well, she certainly still has her attitude. That hasn't changed_.

I limped over to her side and sat down in one of the chairs next to Beck. I put my crutches on the floor next to me. That was Beck's cue to start the conversation.

Over the past two days, while Jade was still unconscious, Beck and I talked to the police about her father. I had learned that Mr. West had 'banished' Beck from his home, and was forbidden to talk to Jade ever again, although that rule obviously didn't go through. But if Beck (and André) hadn't come over that night, we both probably wouldn't be alive.

The police had gathered enough evidence to send Jade's dad to prison, but we both still had questions. And now was our time to get our answers.

"Why did you never tell anyone before, baby?" Beck asked softly.

"About what?" Jade was either playing stupid or seriously had no idea what Beck was asking of her.

"The fact that you've been abused by your own dad for the past twelve years." He hadn't even let go of her hand yet.

Jade sighed. "You know, I'm not really feeling so good right now…"

"You need to tell me," Beck repeated stubbornly. "Well, actually, you need to tell _us_. Tori wouldn't even need to be here in the first place if you had fessed up earlier. And this is really serious stuff. I don't want any playing around, okay?"

Jade looked confused, and her eyes narrowed. "What does this have to do with Vega?" she countered, avoiding Beck's question.

Beck's tone was sharp. "It doesn't just have to do with her, Jade. Why in the world would you stay quiet about something this horrible? I know you, and the things that you can tolerate. You are not the kind of person that doesn't speak up for themselves when they're in danger."

"And that was my mistake."

That totally caught me off guard, and I almost said something, but I knew it was Beck's turn to talk to her. I could ask my questions later.

"Your _mistake_?" Beck repeated.

Jade nodded slowly. "See, after my dad starting abusing me, I knew I had to think of a reputation that would cover up the fact that I was weak and wouldn't tell anyone what was really going on. So this 'bad girl' attitude was the only thing I could think of."

Beck mumbled something that sounded faintly like, "And I love it."

"But I later realized that that was a huge mistake. Now if I tried to tell my friends what was going on, they'd probably be like, 'What? Jade West is afraid of her _own father_? That can't be right.' And no one would take me seriously."

"You do make a lot of assumptions, huh?" Beck chuckled. "Being your boyfriend for a while, you should know that you can tell my anything. I probably would find it hard to believe at first, but you've got a lot of proof that it's true.

"And I would totally chew you out for not coming clean about this sooner, but you're still pretty sick right now, so I'll just wait until you're feeling better to do that."

Jade grinned sheepishly.

"I love you," Beck whispered, leaning towards her.

"One-four-three," Jade answered, reaching up and kissing him. I looked around the room awkwardly, feeling like I was intruding.

When they finally pulled apart, Beck announced, "Okay, babe, now Tori has some questions for you."

"Don't leave," Jade mumbled, settling back on the bed.

"I won't," Beck assured. He patted her hand gently and pulled away, dragging his chair to the far corner of the room, where he sat down, legs crossed, watching us intently.

I paused for a few moments and finally said, "Why'd you do it?"

Jade gave a dry laugh. "What is this, twenty questions?" she snorted.

"Your dad was going to kill me…you left…and you came back," I choked out.

"Oh, right." Jade looked down at the blankets covering her body awkwardly. "Yes, I did come back. Are you upset that I saved your sorry butt? Because if you are…then you know…_sorry_," she said exasperatedly. "You should've told me ahead of tim—"

"No. I'm really glad that you came back," I interrupted, "It's just that, I want to know _why _you did. I mean, I know you always fantasize about what your life would be like I weren't there and…"

Jade had stopped blinking altogether, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Beck stiffen in the corner. I felt myself shrinking down in the plastic chair uneasily.

"What I'm trying to say is that I need to know why you rescued me if you hate me so much," I summarized off the top of my head.

"There's a side of me you never knew, Vega, like I've been trying to tell you for the past week, in case you didn't notice that," Jade replied dryly. "And like I said earlier, the whole 'bad girl' attitude is just a cover-up, although I do quite enjoy it. But anyway, you should know that I don't repeat myself for no reason."

"Oh, hey," Beck said suddenly, standing up and walking over to us, "I have to uh…" He started shuffling towards the door awkwardly.

"No, wait!" Jade begged.

"Don't worry, babe, I'll be back. I just think that you two should talk about that alone." He darted towards the door and closed it heavily behind him. I could hear his footsteps running quick down the hall, and almost laughed.

"Great job, Vega," Jade sulked.

But I wasn't listening to her. I was thinking about what she had said before Beck left.

And suddenly, it all made sense.

When she had come over to my house the first night we worked on the project, I questioned her about her dad and she said, "You don't know me, Vega." Then I had repeatedly bothered her until she finally left, giving me another, "_You don't know me, Tori_!" At school, when I had tried to ask her if I could go over to her house and she said no, I asked if it was because of her dad and she said, "You don't know me." When we were driving to her house, I asked where she had been all day, and got "You don't know me, Vega" as a response. And right before she took my phone, I had gotten the biggest "You don't know me" yet.

"Hey, Vega, are you still paying attention to me?" Jade's voice cut through my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

Jade could probably tell that I was lying but continued. "So why don't I just explain to you a little bit of my relationship with my dad?

"He is probably the meanest person I've ever encountered in my entire life. He is the reason why I act like I do." She sighed. "I know it doesn't sound very reasonable, but that's the truth.

"When my mom left us, he assumed that I was going to be the world's worst troublemaker, so he took matters into his own hands. He 'taught' me to obey him and do whatever he said, because I would know the consequences if I didn't. And it wasn't something I did out of respect. It was out of fear. And yeah Vega, even _I'm _afraid of some things. Like I said before, the bad girl attitude just helped cover up the truth. But it really does take a lot to scare me."

I gave her a lopsided grin. I'm pretty sure she wasn't joking when she said _that_.

"So, I didn't want to get close to a lot of other people, because then they might just turn around and tell me that no one likes me or beat me up, like my dad does, or they might be able to see through my lies."

I remembered reading articles about bullies…bullies would usually hurt others because there was something in their lives that were bothering them. If only someone had noticed that earlier about Jade.

"When you kept saying things like, 'Oh, I know someone who can help you' and 'Come on Jade, you can tell me', I knew that you had no idea what you were talking about. Things were much more complicated as far as you knew, and I didn't want to believe that someone was so close to finding out the truth."

_Oh really? I thought a lot of people knew about it before me_.

"And that night, when I saw you on the floor…with him hurting you…I don't know. I wanted to leave you there, I'll admit. I didn't want to get hurt any more. I was sick and tired of it, every single day of my life. You were being especially annoying that week, and I wanted you to see what it was like having to live with that monster."

I suddenly felt really awkward sitting there. Was I really acting so obnoxious and nosey that it made Jade really considered leaving me there to die? I never meant to be like that, honestly. I leaned over and scratched around my cast, looking away from her face.

"But then…just the way you were looking at me…right before I ran out of the room…I felt like you understood in that split moment. I couldn't leave you there, no matter how much I wanted to." My head snapped up so fast it hurt.

"Stupid subconscious," she continued muttering. "They kept telling me to do one thing, and then the other would go against it…and geez they wouldn't shut up. So I had to make my decision without a second thought. I'm sure if I hadn't been standing there for an eternity and listening to the both of them we probably could've gotten away a little less unscathed." She looked at my messed up knee.

"Well, it's better late than never," I said, smiling a little.

There was a silence, and Jade leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.

"You know, when you left me for those few seconds to get that umbrella…I really thought, in that moment, that you weren't going to come back," I admitted quietly. Jade's eyes snapped open and she looked at me.

"Well, believe it or not, I actually had three options to choose from, Vega," Jade said. "I could either help you out, run, or just wait for Beck to get there. But in the end, it was kind of a combination of all three. I did run, but came back and helped you, and Beck arrived with André. It all ends happily ever after." She laughed sarcastically.

"Yeah, and your dad is in prison, for at least seven years."

"Yep. Freedom here I come."

Just then, a nurse with a big needle came walking into the room, interrupting our conversation.

"Sorry girls, but Jade, it's time to take your medicine," the nurse said.

"I'm not taking anything," Jade replied stubbornly.

"Well, that's okay, honey. You don't really have a choice." The nurse grabbed the IV bag hanging by Jade and inserted the needle, pushing the plunger and I saw the liquid spill into the bag.

Jade looked absolutely stunned, but there was obviously nothing she could do to stop it as the medicine swirled around and dripped down into the tube leading to her arm. "I'll be back in five minutes," the nurse promised as she left again.

"All right, I'd better go if you're going to fall asleep anyway," I said. "And thanks for what you did. It would've been a bad day for me if you didn't come back."

The tense expression on her face eased up. I laughed and grabbed my crutches, using the bed for support as I stood up. I hobbled to the door awkwardly, stumbling around over air.

"Hey Tori?" Jade called from her bed suddenly.

I turned around slowly. "Yeah?"

"You didn't know me before," Jade said, "but now I think you do."

I nodded my head vigorously, struggling back to her bedside.

I couldn't help myself.

I threw down the crutches and reached over and hugged her. It was incredibly awkward because I was leaning over trying to keep my right leg off the floor and not hurt her at the same time.

And surprisingly, she hugged me back.

A real, genuine hug, and I'm pretty sure it was one of the best hugs she had ever given out to anyone, besides Beck of course.

"Keep your friends close," she whispered faintly into my ear, "but your enemies closer."

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><p><strong>Ka-bam! I hope I ended it well with that last line. :)<strong>

**So for those of you wondering, NO ONE has read the epilogue before (but me, of course), so hopefully that's something to look forward to. But other than that, yeah, this story is basically over. You enjoyed it, yes? ;)**

**Wouldn't you love to do the honors and review this last 'official' chapter of "You Don't Know Me"? Haha, I know you do. ;)**


	14. Epilogue

**This is the never-before-seen chapter of "You Don't Know Me," and it's also written from a completely different character's POV. I hope you think I did an okay portrayal of them.**

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><p>CHAPTER 14<br>Mr. West's POV

The walls of my prison cell gave off an intimidating look as I stared at them from my bed. I'd been in here for one month, and it was already torture. The boring daily routines of waking up, eating breakfast, working at the gym or going outside on the basketball courts. Nothing changed. How in the fricking world was I gonna last seven whole years?

Society sucked so much. I was stuck in this rathole for something that I never did. Pathetic. What kind of world did I live in? All because of three teenagers, one being my own daughter, I was going to be spending several perfectly good, useful years in a place like this.

I had no one else in my cell with me. The guards had deemed me too 'violent' to be with another prisoner, not that I really cared. These cells were so freaking small. I ain't no cupcake—I'm a full grown man. A ten by six foot room isn't enough room to have another person, let alone even do anything productive.

I pushed the long sleeves of my orange jumpsuit up because I thought it made me look scarier, even though I didn't have any tattoos. Yet. At eating times, no one sat with me. Outside on the courts, I was by myself. I didn't care. That would give me one less person to be annoyed by.

On the day I had gotten arrested, the only thing I can remember was waking up in a hospital, surrounding by cops. I was in a really bad shape, having gotten stabbed in the side with something, and they had given me several blood transfusions. But after I got better, the police broke to me that I was convicted of child abuse and attempted murder.

At the court, I argued that _I _had been the one attacked, and was being accused of something I never did. But somehow, I lost, saying that the evidence was completely against my side. I guarantee you that I was set up. I have done absolutely nothing that could get me in a place like prison, but yet, here I was.

_Accused of something I never did_.

An hour ago, one of the guards had come over and encouraged me to go down to the weight room to get some fresh air. I called him something that was apparently 'very rude' and he said I wasn't allowed to leave my cell until dinnertime. Talk about someone who has attitude.

Not that I really cared. Like I've said before, I don't have any friends. I doubt I would be getting any visitors either, not that I wanted some.

My wife, God knows wherever she is, could be dead for all I know (and care). The only thing I can remember of her was that we had the worst child ever imaginable. Yeah, and I don't think I wanted Jade visiting me. It was her fault I was in here, and the next time I saw her I would strangle the living guts out of her.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Letter for Mr. West!" a female voice said on the other side.

"What the eff do you want now?" I hollered back, not bothering to stand up.

Every door in a prison cell had a little window near the top, so the guards could stand outside and watch you like zoo animals. There was even a little opening below the window that flapped open so you could get food or packages from people without anyone having to come into your room. Yeah, they really treat us like animals.

The opening beneath the window opened, and an envelope dropped onto the tray underneath.

_What is this? Probably a letter from my tax collector_. I rolled my eyes but got up anyway and shuffled over to the tray. The letter was pretty light, and I roughly ripped it open, letting the scraps of envelope float to the floor.

_Hey, Dad!_

_Do you remember me, your daughter that you abused for twelve years? Well yeah, I'm still alive, in case you're wondering, all thanks to the boy you banished from our home. Yeah. I said it. If Beck hadn't been there for Tori and me, we would've died and you would be in an even worse situation than you are. I'd hope that you'd say thank you to him, but seeing how big of a jerk you are, I won't get my hopes up._

_Oh, and because of you, Vega and I passed our project even though we had to start over from scratch because Vega's laptop broke when it was at our house. That and the fact that Sikowitz gave us extra time because we were in the hospital for a while. So yeah. You know, after this whole thing, I think we might actually become friends. Might. I just need to get over my fear of being close to people._

_And that's all thanks to you._

_No dad in their right mind would do what you've been doing to me. Because of you, I had to keep a secret for over a decade. Because of you, it's harder for me to trust people, knowing that in any moment they can turn on me like you did._

_But I guess, because of you, I learned how to be assertive in other situations, and it is fun to boss people around, but not like you do to me. Not that far, no way._

_I'm living with Beck right now, in case you're wondering, but we're still trying to figure something else out, you know, but I doubt that's necessary. It's been really great to come home everyday and see the house in great shape. Cough cough._

_Don't expect me to visit you a lot. Yeah, you don't deserve to have any visitors for all the things you've done, but I'll come once in a while just so I can make fun of your sorry butt. I bet you're looking forward to that, huh?_

_Enjoy your seven years in prison. I think it should've been twelve, one for every year that you abused me too. I talked to Mr. Vega, the cop, and Mr. Shay, my lawyer, but the most they could get was seven. Oh well. I guarantee when you're out you'll do something else to get you in there for another seven years, or if I get lucky, even more that that_.

_So that's all I have for you for now. Don't expect any more letters from me. I don't want to waste any more of my life doing anything for you. Keeping secrets, being your punching bag, nothing. Nope. Never again. Everyone has a speed bump in life that they need to get over, and you were my biggest one. I doubt anything else that happens to me could compare to this experience._

_I'm not going to miss you. I don't love you. I'm never going to see your face again as long as I can help it._

_Cheers!_

_Your ex-daughter,  
><em>_Jade West_

_What the frickin' heck did I just read_? I crumpled up the letter and threw it on the floor. My messed up daughter. You'd think years of my training would have taught her a few things by now. After all, that was exactly why I did it in the first place.

I walked back over to my bed, which wasn't far away, and sat down carefully. The mattress creaked under my weight. My stomach growled loudly. I needed some alcohol.

God, I haven't had any in such a long time. Alcohol was like my entire life. And taking that away from me ruined me. Not so much physically as mentally and emotionally.

Luckily, just a week ago I had discovered that some of the other prisoners had a way of obtaining beer and wine. I threatened to snitch to the guards and beat the crap out of them if they didn't give me any, so, terrified as they were, they complied.

Of course, that still was not enough to keep up with my demands, and it was really hard drinking only a few sips everyday, because I might get too drunk if I downed the rest, and then the guards would suspect something. I was getting used to it a little more every time, but three sips would never compare to drinking a whole six-pack at once. Still, it was better than nothing.

I stood up and pounded the walls with my fist. The sound echoed dully in the cell. I was sick of this place, just sick, sick, sick of it. I was trying to do some good in the community by whipping a troublemaker into shape, and I get jailed for it.

What was wrong with this world? Really, I'm serious about that.

I kicked the side of my bed as hard as I could, probably bruising my entire foot. But I didn't care. Pain was a part of life. You had to learn to get use to it, no matter how bad. If you couldn't handle it, then you'd let in control you.

And that's how I controlled Jade.

But I didn't let it control me. The words she said, the things she did to hurt me emotionally didn't bother me at all. You let it get to you, and then you'll become a slave to it.

I reached into the garbage can next to the toilet. Yes it was disgusting, but that's the only place I could think of to hide my beer. I took out the brown bottle and took a few swigs.

I had just placed the bottle back in the trash when there was a sudden knock on the door. I looked up through the window and saw the round face of a sweaty Stevie staring back at me.

"Mr. West, go to the back wall and stand there with your hands behind your back," Stevie instructed, tapping on the window.

_I'm not a fish in a tank_, I thought, but begrudgingly did as he said. Unfortunately, I was limping over to the back because I guess I had hurt my foot more than I thought.

The door swung open and Stevie came in. I could tell he was nervous. He drew himself up, trying to make himself look bigger, but his hands were shaking as he spun me around and tied my hands together with a plastic tie.

"Can you come outside with me?"

Stevie turned around for a split second, and I launched myself at him, despite my bad foot. We crashed to the concrete floor loudly, and he was knocked out immediately. I rolled onto my stomach and pushed myself up using my shoulders and forehead, as my hands were tightly tied behind me. I stood up and rushed towards the door.

WHAM!

As I had reached the doorway, something solid smashed across my chest, sending me backwards. I felt the sharp pain in my wrists when I landed on them, and I was winded immediately.

"What the heck are you doing?"

Blurrily, I looked up and saw a different guard, a plastic bat in his hand. That was probably what he hit me with. What a coward. He couldn't even use his own hands to take me down? Wimp.

I was hauled to my feet for a moment and then shoved down on my knees, my head resting against the cold metal of my bed.

"Hey, I need another guard over here," the man said into his walkie-talkie. "Yeah, convict 81205 just knocked out Stevie...again. I need some backup."

Within seconds, another guard burst into my cell. It was getting unbelievably hot in here, especially the room being so small and now there were a whopping four people stuffed in here.

The guard holding me down lifted me back up, and I faced the third guard, Johnny. Johnny looked over at my trashcan, and reached inside.

"Hold on, what are you doing?" I shouted, starting to panic.

But it was too late. Johnny pulled out the beer bottle, giving me the dirtiest look he could muster, which wasn't very dirty in my opinion.

"You know you can't have alcohol in here. I guess we'll just have to take you up to the chief's office." Johnny was trying to sound all threatening and stuff, but I didn't buy it. "You're a sick, sick man, Mr. West."

As we went out into the hall, I mumbled, "Yeah, well guess what, buddy?"

"What?"

"You don't know me."

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><p>THE END.<p>

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><p><strong>Mr. West is just absolutely psycho huh? The point of this chapter was to show how he really feels about everything, especially what he's done to Jade. And as you can probably see, he doesn't give a care about anything. I hope none of you are like that.<strong>

**Anyway, so what'd you guys think of my 'first' story? Yes, I did write it once, but I never fully uploaded the rest so that doesn't count, does it? :)**

**Huge THANKS once again to everyone who enjoyed this story. I really loved writing it. And if you want some interesting info on this story (like the real meaning of Mr. West's convict number) check out my profile!**

**If you're wondering, as of now, there will not be a sequel. I have other stories to write and I think this one ends just nicely. But you never know, the future changes all the time. And after all, you don't know me. :D**

**Any questions you still have on anything, review or P.M. me. :)**


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